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THE SOCIETY POP THE PBESEEVATION OP 



other cases that have boon reported to mo is that lions in a^vild 

 state do not breed nearly so often as is generally believed. 



It is a matter which has interested me very much, and one 

 which I have found gives rise to a good deal of discussion. 



Not long ago a rather well-known authority upon big game 

 shooting assured me that wild lionesses had cubs annually, and 

 based his assertion upon having shot one whiob was accompanied 

 by two large and two small cubs. However, on going into the 

 matter it transpired that the lioness was one of a troop which 

 scattered in all directions, and he admitted that the larger cubs 

 might easily have been the offspring of another lioness, and in the 

 general confusion have followed the mother of the smaller ones. 



Lions appear to be extremely regular in their breeding seasons 

 in the Eastern Transvaal, and cubs seem to be born always late in 

 July or early in August. 



A third argument sometimes affected by opponents of game 

 reserves is that they are calculated to increase or reintroduce the 

 tsetse fly, and perhaps in this manner bring in sleeping sickness. 



Now in this country the tsetse disappeared with the rinderpest 

 ton years ago, and has not been seen or heard of since. It could 

 not have disappeared by reason of the game being exterminated, 

 because, as a matter of fact, the game hero suffered in a much less 

 degree from the plague than was the case further north, and 

 though of course many buffalo died, still a not inconsiderable 

 number survived. The dense bush is ideal cover for the fly, 

 which in the old days swarmed everywhere, and had it not all, as 

 1 hold that it must have, died from the effects of sucking the 

 blood of the diseased animals, it would have made itself felt long 

 ere this. 



Living as I do in the heart of the former tsetse country with a 

 considerable amount of livestock, no one would have experienced 

 its effects sooner than myself. 



Adjoining Portuguese East Africa is now equally free from the 

 fly with the Transvaal. 



Therefore the presence of big game even in a habitat suitable 

 to this scourge does not necessarily imply the presence of the 

 latter. And. as all thick bush containing game did not, in the 

 past, invariably harbour fly, the question suggests itself, what 

 other conditions were necessary for its presence ? 



Conversely, has it ever been conclusively proved that it is 

 entirely dependent upon big game for its subsistence ? The 

 experiences of many hunters would at least testify that it is by no 

 means averse to a change of diet. 



In South Africa it was commonly said, to bo invariably asso- 

 ciated with big game, because the pastoral natives of the country, 

 like the white men, preferred big open grazing-grounds for their 

 stock, while the tsetse affected thick bush, which also happened to 

 bo the locale of certain species of wild animals. 



Supposing, as has been suggested, certain reserves wore to be 

 thrown open, and the game exterminated within thorn : is there 



