306 
WATORE 
[Januaky 28, 1897 
arctic polar basin ; if this generation does not learn the secrets of 
the paleocrystal ice, another can and will do so. 
Our future naturalist will certainly and most justly complain 
if we busy ourselves with problems that can wait, that he can 
solve as well as we, and at the same time neglect to do that 
work which we alone can do. Our first and immediate duty is 
to save for science vanishing knowledge; this should be the 
watchword of the present day. 
Those students of botany, zoology, and anthropology who 
have at all considered the matter, are impressed with the fact 
that the present is a very critical time for the native flora 
and fauna of many parts of the world. Owing to the spread of 
commerce, the effects of colonisation, and the intentional or 
accidental importation of plants and animals, a very rapid change 
is affecting the character of the indigenous life of numerous dis- 
tricts. This is notably the case in oceanic islands, the area of 
which is often extremely limited, and as a consequence the native 
forms are the more likely to be swamped by the immigrants ; 
but it is just those spots which are of especial interest to the 
naturalist, on account of their isolation from the great land 
areas. Thus the flora and fauna of many of the districts most 
interesting to the field-naturalist are in our day becoming largely 
exterminated before they have been adequately recorded. The 
investigation of disappearing animals and plants can, in many 
cases, be undertaken by us alone—and even now much has dis- 
appeared and more is fast passing away. It is, perhaps, scarcely 
necessary to point out that this investigation is not a matter of 
interest to the systematist only, but it is of great importance in 
connection with the problems of the geographical distribution of 
animals.and plants which open up such fascinating vistas of the 
extension of continents in former ages, and of their partial sub- 
mergence ; not to speak of the bearing of specific and individual 
varieties on the intricate questions of the origin of species ; or 
the adaptation of those peculiar forms to their particular locali- 
ties, and those wonderful inter-relations between plants and 
plants, plants and animals, or between animals and animals, and 
between all and their environment. 
Some years ago a Committee was appointed to investigate the 
zoology ef the Sandwich Islands, and they sent out Mr. R. C. L. 
Perkins, who has done most excellent work. His researches in 
the Hawaiian group prove that quite a noticeable decrease in the 
indigenous fauna is taking place each season. The district 
around Honolulu was perhaps originally the richest in endemic 
forms, but now introduced forms are in vast preponderance ; 
the distinctive fauna of the plains, if there was one, has quite 
disappeared. Captain Cook found certain birds, for example, near 
the shore ; of these, some are extinct, and others are to be found 
only in the mountains. In a letter recently received, by Dr. D. 
Sharp, dated from Lihue, Kauai, he states: ‘‘ This place has been 
a dead failure. The country where I camped here was a low- 
lying, densely-covered forest bog-land, at first sight a paradise 
for Carabidz (ground beetles), and differing from any other 
place known to me. Its fauna is entirely lost for ever. I turned 
during my stay thousands of logs, any one of which at 4000 feet 
would have yielded Carabidz ; of all these there was not 
a single one under which Phezdole megacephala had not a 
nest, and I never beat a tree without this ant coming 
down in scores.” This is an introduced ant which is 
overrunning the islands, and which exterminates the native 
insect fauna. Mr. Perkins finds that earwigs alone can with- 
stand this ant, and his only chance of collecting endemic 
insects is to get ahead of the ant. The area of the whole group 
is somewhat larger than Yorkshire. If the diminution of the 
fauna is so marked in such a comparatively large group as the 
Hawaiian Islands, how much greater must it be in the small 
islands. 
Mr. Knight, in his entertaining book ‘‘ The Cruise of the 
Falcon,’ describes the prostrate forests of the island of Trinidad 
in the South Atlantic. We never can know what was the nature 
and extent of this vanished flora and fauna. 
What is taking place in the small islands holds good to a 
somewhat less extent for the larger ones. In New Zealand the 
Government is taking steps to preserve certain well-known 
vestiges of its ancient fauna which are in imminent danger of 
extermination ; but it does not interest itself in the inconspicuous 
forms, which are subject to the same danger, nor does the New 
Zealand Government systematically investigate the existing 
fauna of the group. 
It is necessary that such investigations should be undertaken 
by competent naturalists. They should not only be good 
collectors, but keen observers, in fact, naturalists in the true 
NO. 1422, VOL. 55] 
sense of the term ; for unless the work is well done, it had almost 
be better left undone. There are many examples of collecting 
being so imperfectly done as to lead to very erroneous conclu- 
sions, It takes time for a naturalist to become acquainted with 
the local types. The endemics do not show themselves, as 
usually the conditions of life are such that insects, for example, 
live retired lives and are not seen, while those that manifest 
themselves are often foreigners. 
The extermination of animal life is more rapid and striking 
than that of plants, but what has been stated for animals must 
be applied to plants as well. 
Not less important than the foregoing is the study of the 
anthropology of these districts. The Tasmanians have entirely 
disappeared, and we know extremely little about this interesting 
people. In many islands the natives are fast dying out, and in 
more they have become so modified by contact with the white 
man and by crossings due to deportation by Europeans, that 
immediate steps are necessary to record the anthropological 
data that remain. Only those who have a personal acquaintance 
with Oceania, or those who have carefully followed the recent 
literature of the subject, can have an idea of the pressing need 
there is for prompt action. No one can deny that it is our 
bounden duty to record the physical characteristics, the handi- 
crafts, the psychology, ceremonial observances and religious 
beliefs of vanishing peoples ; this also is a work which in many 
cases can alone be accomplished by the present generation. 
The late Prof. H. N. Moseley was so impressed with this fact 
during his voyage on H.M.S. Challenger, that he concluded his 
““Notes by a Naturalist on the Chad/enger”’ by pointing out 
that the physical conditions and fauna of the sea can be inves- 
tigated at leisure at any future time. ‘‘ On the surface of the 
earth, however, animals and plants and races of men are perish- 
ing rapidly day by day, and will soon be, like the Dodo, things 
of the past. The history of these things once gone can never 
be recovered, but must remain for ever a gap in the knowledge 
of mankind. The loss will be most deeply felt in the province 
of Anthropology, a science which is of higher importance to us 
than any other as treating of the developmental history of our 
own species. The languages of Polynesia are being rapidly 
destroyed or mutilated, and the opportunity of obtaining accu- 
rate information concerning these and the native habits of culture 
will soon have passed away. The urgent necessity of the present 
day is a scientific cireumnavigating expedition which shall visit 
the least-known inhabited islands of the Pacific, and at the 
same time explore the islands which yet remain almost or 
entirely unknown as regards their botany and zoology; these 
promise to yield results of the highest interest if only the matter 
be taken in hand in time.” 
There is no difficulty in finding men willing and competent to 
undertake such investigations if the funds were forthcoming ; 
experience has shown that an annual sum of at least 4oo/. is 
necessary to equip and maintain one naturalist. 
Here, then, is a great opportunity for the millionaire. No 
one doubts that the work is worth doing ; it is essential that it 
should be done at once: capable men are ready to undertake it 
—only the means are lacking. 
The British Association has appointed a Committee to report 
on this matter, of which Sir William Flower, Director of the 
Natural History Museum, South Kensington, is the Chairman, 
and the present writer the Secretary ; so there exists a machinery 
ready to be put in action when funds are available. Will not 
one wealthy man, or a syndicate of rich men, contribute to do 
this work for the world? The opportunity if neglected is lost 
for ever. A. C. Happon. 
SIR MARTIN CONWAY'S CROSSING OF 
SPITZBERGEN. 
IR MARTIN CONWAY read a paper on the first crossing 
of Spitzbergen at the meeting of the Royal Geographical 
Society on January 25, illustrating his description by a series 
of fine lantern slides of Spitzbergen scenery. He landed at 
Advent bay, accompanied by Dr. J. W. Gregory, Mr. E. S. 
Garwood, Mr. A. Trevor-Batty, and Mr. H. E. Conway, two 
Norwegian sailors, and two ponies. The descriptions of previous 
travellers had led him to expect a series of boggy coast valleys 
leading up to an interior plateau covered with snow or ice, on 
which sledging would be practicable. The actual conditions 
were very different. The northern and southern parts of Spitz- 
bergen are, in the main, covered with great accumulations of 
