OCTOBEB 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



619 



The present condition of the native animals of 

 tii« world is such that the preservation of repre- 

 ■entative faunas is coming to be one of the im- 

 portant concerns both of zoologists and of govern- 

 ■lents in widely separated localities. California's 

 ligt of mammals aggregates 369 species and sub- 

 species, as compared with 80 for Kansas, 94 for 

 Kebraska, 152 for Colorado and 182 for Texas. 

 An examination of the recent history and present 

 status of California's fur -bearing and game mam- 

 mals, including the beaver, sea elephant, sea otter, 

 deer, elk, mountain sheep, pronghorned antelope, 

 black and grizzly bears, serves to justify accord- 

 ing her a place among the important big game 

 •ountries of the world. There has been a steady 

 decrease in the original supply of wild life of the 

 state dating from the beginning of the nineteenth 

 sentury. It is coming to be realized that, partic- 

 ularly in a democracy, a special obligation to 

 furnish leadership in movements for the perpetua- 

 tion of the native fauna rests upon the professional 

 aoologist. 



The Administration of Fish and Game Laws: 

 Eenest Schaefple, executive officer of the 

 California Fish and Game Commission. 

 Mr. SchaefSe declared that in California the ad- 

 ministration of the fish and game laws during the 

 last twenty years has been made easier through 

 the support of public opinion and the fact that to 

 the violation of the laws is attached a good deal 

 8f the same obloquy that attends the commission 

 of larcenies and other unpopular misdemeanors. 

 He denied the claim that California could have on 

 sale the same quantity of game as Great Britain if 

 the British system were followed and that the 

 British system is better for both game and man. 

 Moreover, he pointed out that the limiting of 

 shooting to the aristocracy, even if it is a protec- 

 tion of a sort to the game, is un-American and be- 

 sides that undesirable. 



"In this country we feel that it is not only 

 right but wise that man's instinct for sport be 

 kept alive; would not certain European nations 

 be better ofE in this crisis if their common people 

 — boys and men — had been permitted to hunt, fish, 

 learn to camp out — and to handle arms? We 

 think so — and further, we think that a state or 

 eountry where the average man knows how to 

 ihoot is safer, in times of peace and war, than 

 those countries which are obliged to depend upon 

 sonscript armies of men whose experience with 

 firearms is limited practically to the dismounting, 

 assembling and polishing of their weapons. ' ' 



One reason why fish and game laws are more 

 cheerfully obeyed now, Mr. Schaeffle said, is that 

 the laws that are framed now are based on knowl- 

 edge and common sense and sensibly administered. 

 The Need of Scientific Research in Salmon Conser- 

 vation: John Peael Babcock, commissioner of 

 fisheries, Victoria, B. C. 



It has been supposed that the key to fish conser- 

 vation is found in artificial propagation, whereby 

 the percentage of egg fertilization is increased, 

 but this has not been proven. Examination of 

 large runs after planting do not show evidence of 

 man's assistance. Feeding in later stages is not 

 well understood and has not been successful. 

 Propagation concerns but a fraction of the fish's 

 life history and even this portion has not been 

 thoroughly investigated. Too much money has 

 been expended on propagatory work and too little 

 on the necessary scientific investigation which 

 should precede such work. [Bead by Barton W. 

 Evermann.] 



The Crai Proilem of the Pacific Coast: P. W. 



Weymouth, Stanford University. 



Cancer magister, the edible crab of the Pacific 

 coast, is found from Unalaska to Lower California 

 in shallow water. It frequents sandy bottoms, 

 feeding chiefly on small fish and crustaceans. The 

 females lay in the fall from three quarters to one 

 and a half million eggs, which are carried at- 

 tached to the abdominal legs until they hatch three 

 or four months later. The larvse are free swim- 

 ming for about four months, but on molting to 

 the adult form in the summer, seek the bottom 

 and take on essentially the habits of the adult. 



The principal fisheries are at San Francisco and 

 Eureka in California, Dungeness, Anacortes and 

 Neah Bay in Washington and Boundary Bay and 

 Prince Rupert in British Columbia. Fishing is 

 carried on in shallow sheltered bays by traps simi- 

 lar to lobster pots, and on exposed bars or limited 

 coves by means of hoop nets. 



The edible crab was once extremely abundant 

 through most of its range, but has been markedly 

 reduced in such old and heavily fished localities 

 as San Francisco, in spite of protective legisla- 

 tion. We see in the lobster fishery that neither 

 abundance nor wide distribution has prevented 

 depletion under persistent fishing, and that to-day 

 the lobster is hardly holding his own though pro- 

 tected by stringent laws and aided by artificial 

 hatching. It is much easier to conserve an exist- 

 ing fishery than to replace an exhausted one. We 

 should, therefore, anticipate the future heavy fish- 

 ing in still unexploited regions with laws designed 



