EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 115 



Elephants : About 25 in Knysna, and 120 in Uitenhage divisions. Gems- 

 bok ; About 4000 principally in Bushmanland and Bechuanaland, with a 

 fair lot in Barkly West division. Koodoos; 4000, found mostly in the 

 divisions of Uitenhage, Willowmore, Jansenville, Port Beaufort, Albany, 

 Victoria East, and Vryburg; and in lesser numbers in Ladismith, Oudts- 

 hoorn. Prince Albert, Riversdale, Griqualand West, Kuruman, and Mafe- 

 king. Oribi : A few are still to be found in Bathurst division, where they 

 were specially protected until Jan. Blst, 1901 ; and in Griqualand East 

 (where they are specially protected), and in Bathurst until Oct. 21st, 1900. 

 Eietbok: About 450 in Komgha and Kimberley divisions, and a few in 

 Griqualand East, where they are specially protected until May 28th, 1902. 

 Zebra : Between 300 and 400. The bulk of them in George, Oudtshoorn, 

 and Uniondale divisions, with a few detached troops in the divisions of 

 Cradock, Prince Albert, and Somerset East. Hartebeest and Wildebeest in 

 fairly large numbers are found in Bechuanaland and Griqualand West, 

 but continued unauthorised slaughter of these animals on the unoccupied 

 lands on the desert borders has, it is feared, already largely reduced the 

 numbers ; but the Game Laws Amendment Act, No. 33, of 1899, passed 

 last session, will, it is hoped, enable effective measures to be taken to put 

 a stop to such acts. The presence of these animals in large or small 

 numbers in the former locality depends largely on the state of the veld, and 

 the dryness or otherwise of the season in the Kalahari Desert. Wild 

 Ostriches : About 2500, principally in Bechuanaland, Griqualand West, 

 and Bushmanland." 



The vanishing Mammalian Fauna of South Africa is the subject of an 

 interesting article in the 'Cape Times ' of Nov. 28th, by Frederick R. N. 

 Findlay, from which we quote as follows : — 



" It is marvellous how rapidly the countless herds of game that once 

 roamed over the rolling plains of South Africa* have been practically 

 exterminated. The exquisite fauna of Africa in the past added greatly to 

 the charm and fascination which that continent has had for so many men, 

 but they are being swept away by an unenlightened ' civilization.' Some 

 useful and magnificent forms of feral life are already as extinct as the Dodo, 

 and others are on the verge of extinction. No more could a Pringle sing : 



' And the timorous Quagga's w^ild whistling neigh 

 Is heard by the fountain at fall of day ' ; 



for the last of its tribe fell more than a score of years ago. The Blaauvvbok 

 (Hippotragus leucophmus) has gone these hundred years, and its beautiful 

 relation, the Roan Antelope (H. equinus), is nowhere plentiful. The White 



* " For the purposes of this article, when speaking of South Africa I mean 

 the territory lying to the south of the Zambesi and Ciinene Rivers," 



