September 20, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



361 



slaughtered or captured save by the direct 

 authority of the wardens of the sanctu- 

 aries, and for the direct advantage of the 

 denizens of the sanctuaries, for the re- 

 moval of noxious individuals, the control- 

 ling of species that were increasing beyond 

 reason, the extirpation of diseased or un- 

 healthy animals. The obvious examples 

 are not the game reserves of the old world, 

 but the national parks of the new world 

 and of Australasia. In the United States, 

 for instance, there are now the Yellowstone 

 National Park with over two million acres, 

 the Tosemite in California with nearly a 

 million acres, the Grand Caiion Game Pre- 

 serve with two million acres, the Mount 

 Olympus National Monument in Washing- 

 ton with over half a million acres and the 

 Superior Game and Forest Preserve with 

 nearly a million acres, as well as a number 

 of smaller reserves for special purposes, 

 and a chain of coastal areas all round the 

 shores for the preservation of birds. In 

 Canada, in Alberta, there are the Rocky 

 Mountains Park, the Yoho Park, Glacier 

 Park and Jasper Park, together extending 

 to over nine million acres, whilst in British 

 Coliunbia there are smaller sanctuaries. 

 These, so far as laws can make them, are 

 inalienable and inviolable sanctuaries for 

 wild animals. We ought to have similar 

 sanctuaries in every country of the world, 

 national parks secured for all time against 

 all the changes and chances of the nations 

 by international agreement. In the older 

 and more settled countries the areas se- 

 lected unfortunately must be determined 

 by various considerations, of which faun- 

 istic value can not be the most important. 

 But certainly in Africa, and in large parts 

 of Asia, it would still be possible that they 

 should be selected in the first place for 

 their faunistic value. The scheme for 

 them should be drawn up by an interna- 

 tional commission of experts in the geo- 



graphical distribution of animals, and the 

 winter and summer haunts of migratory 

 birds should be taken into consideration. 

 It is for zoologists to lead the way, by lay- 

 ing down what is required to preserve for 

 all time the most representative and most 

 complete series of surviving species with- 

 out any reference to the extrinsic valiie of 

 the animals. And it then will be the duty 

 of the nations, jointly and severally, to 

 arrange that the requirements laid down 

 by the experts shall be complied with. 



And now I come to the last side of my 

 subject, that of zoological gardens, with 

 which I have been specially connected in 

 the last ten years. My friend M. Gustave 

 Loisel, in his recently issued monumental 

 "Histoire des Menageries" has shown that 

 in the oldest civilizations of which we 

 have record, thousands of years before the 

 Christian era, wild animals were kept in 

 captivity. He is inclined to trace the 

 origin of the custom to a kind of totemism. 

 Amongst the ancient Egyptians, for in- 

 stance, besides the bull and the serpent, 

 baboons, hippopotami, cats, lions, wolves, 

 ichneumons, shrews, wild goats and wild 

 sheep, and of lower animals, crocodiles, 

 various fishes and beetles were held sacred 

 in different towns. These animals were 

 protected, and even the involuntary killing 

 of any of them was punished by the death 

 of the slayer, but besides this general pro- 

 tection, the priests selected individuals 

 which they recognized by infallible signs 

 as being the divine animals, and tamed, 

 guarded and fed in the sacred buildings, 

 whilst the revenues derived from certain 

 tracts of land were set apart for their sup- 

 port. The Egyptians were also famous 

 hunters and kept and tamed various wild 

 animals, including cheetahs, striped hy- 

 enas, leopards, and even lions which they 

 used in stalking their prey. The tame 

 lions were sometimes clipped, as in ancient 



