In South America there are many animals, such as chinchillas, coypus and armadillos, which have no near relatives elsewhere. Among them are the South American camelidae, which are not true camels but only camel-like. They have no hump, their ears are proportionately long and their tails short and bushy, but their slender build and long necks remind one of camels. Like camels, they walk on two toes or phalanges, on the last one, as do all artiodactyles, and also on the penultimate one, so that they seem to be rather digitigrades than unguligrades. Behind their relatively long claws, below the second phalange, there is a kind of little cushion which serves as a callous sole.

(In 1953 Dr. Darling and Dr. A. S. Leopold conducted an investigation in Alaska on behalf of the Conservation Foundation and the New York Zoological Society. Their full report is reviewed on p. 334.)

It is encouraging to report that, except for some forms of less than specific rank, no animal of East Africa has become extinct and most species are still abundant. There is still time to save the interesting fauna in its natural habitat, provided reserves are chosen wisely.

The Mijeti Non-Shooting Area, in the north-west corner of the Chikwawa district of Nyasaland, comprises some 150–200 square miles of very broken and stony hill country clothed mostly with rather poor Brachystegia scrub, though small areas of bettergrown Brachystegia and Pterocarpus are to be found. The grass on the hills is seldom higher than about 3 feet, but in the dambos it often reaches a height of 8 to 10 feet. These “dambos” are open grassy glades which may be quite dry for half the year but which, owing to the high water-table during the rains, are almost treeless.

So little is known about the Nyika plateau that even the observations of an amateur may be of use in reaching a better understanding of this wonderful stretch of mountain country. I first visited the Nyika in 1950 and returned the following year with two colleagues, to investigate forestry possibilities. In July, 1952, we opened a camp and started a forestry pilot scheme. Our work has given us an exceptional opportunity to watch the game and study the flora and climate. Our camp, some 3½ miles south-east of Kaulime Pond, is at an altitude of 7,700 feet and stands in typical short-grass country near the headwaters of Chelinda River.

Distribution of revenue from licence fees.—It was decided during the year that African local governments should receive a proportion of the revenue accruing from game licence fees to increase their interest in faunal matters, and thus encourage them to render greater assistance in. the preservation of game and the enforcing of the game laws.

Man is dependent on his natural environment, and not all the modern developments of science can alter this fact. This, the ecology of mankind, may be considered in three ways: the economic, which is the use of the soil and mineral wealth; habitation, which is living space; and recreation. Modern man, during a short time each year travels and becomes a nomad as his ancestors were. Sometimes he wishes to be at one with nature, to visit mountains, valleys or the sea shore, and this is the only aspect of his travels with which “nature protection and tourism” is concerned. To what extent then can nature protection co-operate with tourism and, where they seem incompatible, how can their difficulties be resolved ?

Nature protection depends upon the knowledge and love of nature in contemporary mankind and finding this rather meagre, acknowledges in tourism a means of arousing it.

Under sponsorship of the Society of the Friends of the Trees of Lebanon and of UNESCO, a conference of scientists from the Near and Middle East was held at Beirut from 3rd–9th June, 1954. Mr. Edward Graham, Director of Plant Technology, attended from Washington, Lieut.-Colonel C. L. Boyle came from Britain, on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves and the Fauna Preservation Society.

In Britain there are three snakes, three lizards, three frogs (two of them introduced), two toads and three newts. This poor list, only fourteen species, can be explained by the intense cold of a past Ice Age, during which it is doubtful whether any of these cold-blooded creatures survived. If not, they must have returned after the melting of the snows and glaciers. During the great thaw Britain was for some thousands of years still connected with the Continent. Then, as the sea-level rose and a certain amount of earth-sinking took place, much of the land became waterlogged. Finally, about 8,000 years ago, the last land bridge was severed, the sea cut through to form the Straits of Dover, and Britain became an island. It should be noted that all our species are found also on the Continent, and that they diminish in numbers and species as one travels north. Ireland has the poorest supply, since it was the first to break away.

In the last issue it was announced that during a conference on British mammals organized by the University of Birmingham on 23rd to 26th April, it was proposed to launch a national society for the study of British mammals. This has now been done, and the society will be known as the Mammal Society of the British Isles. The main aim of the society will be to study the distribution, breeding biology and habits of mammals, both native and introduced, in the British Isles and in the seas surrounding them. It is hoped, for instance, to prepare at a fairly early stage a comprehensive work on British mammals comparable to The Handbook of British Birds, but not necessarily exactly modelled on it. It was made clear that the new society would not be primarily interested in the protection and conservation of mammals, which fell within the sphere of the Fauna Preservation Society, though it would always be prepared to co-operate with the F.P.S. and other interested bodies, in securing either specific or general aims in this field.

In Oryx, Vol. 2, No. 3, there was a brief account of the Otter Committee and how and why it was formed. There are many problems which it has been endeavouring to solve, particularly in connection with the otters' breeding and feeding habits. One important question is whether this delightful animal is a menace to fishing and in need of control, as some people believe, or whether in fact it is a harmless, beneficial creature, which deserves peace and protection from mankind.

In the winter of 1951–52 a few members of the Bishop's Stortford College Natural History Society decided to make a particular study of the bats frequenting the local countryside, both during the period of hibernation and in the active season.