At the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in south-western Alaska, is a remarkable nature sanctuary. It is by far the largest park in United States' territory and among the dozen largest in the world. It is the only completely roadless park in America. It is the site of one of history's mightiest volcanic eruptions. It has magnificent scenery—mountains, smoking volcanos, glaciers, picture-book lakes, a rugged marine coast with colourful fiords and, in a near-aboriginal fauna, the largest carnivore in the world. Many persons—even Americans—have never heard the name of this park: Katmai National Monument.

The African Wild Dog, or Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus, is a distinct species and is neither related to any domestic breed nor does it appear to be the forerunner of any known type of domestic dog: there are in fact certain structural differences, such as the absence of dew-claws. The dogs stand about twenty-six inches at the shoulder and measure about four feet from nose to tip of bushy tail. The colour is variable but is similar to that of a normal Alsatian, covered to a greater or lesser degree with black, yellow or white blotches. A notable feature is the large upstanding, rounded ears. There are recorded cases of the wild dog having been successfully tamed, but an objectionable smell renders them somewhat unpleasant as household pets.

During the past decade the slow retreat of wild life from its former wide range in northern Tanganyika has quickened. In many areas its disappearance is an accomplished fact; in others, such as the north Tanga country, the game population has been reduced to a figure that is probably below the minimum density for continued existence.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon in the Serengeti National Park, Tanganyika. Two magnificent maned lions were in front of us, some Thomson's gazelles were grazing around, while sandgrouse and Egyptian geese were drinking at a pool nearby.

The most striking and perhaps far-reaching of all the human interferences with Nature witnessed in the present century is that represented by the widespread lowering of water-tables, the correction and regulation of the regime of rivers and the construction of large dams and new artificial lakes, most of which are constructed for the purpose of generating electricity.

Fish inhabiting shallow coastal waters in all accessible parts of the world are at this moment in the process of being exterminated, through the mass invasion of these waters by spear-fishermen. On the Mediterranean shores of France and Spain, and all round the coastline of Italy the process is almost complete, so far as several species of fish are concerned, and we learn from the magazines of spear-fishing enthusiasts, of new centres of their sport being continually established on the more remote coasts of the Adriatic, of Greece and of North Africa.

In Oryx, November, 1955, there is an interesting note by Mr. E. O. Shebbeare—“Weapons of the Great Indian Rhinoceros”—indicating that this rhinoceros uses a pair of “tushes”, in the lower jaw, as its weapons of offence, and he asks the question whether the African rhinos actually use their horns as weapons.

The following note on the Great Indian rhinoceros appeared in The United Services Journal, November, 1849. Though it bears out Mr. Shebbeare's opinion, given in the last Oryx, that in general this rhinoceros uses his “tushes” not his horn in attack, it does also suggest that the horn may sometimes be of use as a secondary weapon.

The following information has been received from U Tun Yin, Burma Civil Service (retired), and Maung Gale, Divisional Forest Officer, Shwebo.

For a map of Burma, see “Wild Life Preservation in Burma”, Oryx, Volume III, No. 2.

Maintaining the balance of nature means keeping up the biological equilibrium; that is the quantitative balance between living beings, animals and plants. The term should refer to an area which can be defined fairly clearly, preferably from a biological standpoint.

In the New Forest alone, Hampshire possesses what is potentially one of the finest mammal sanctuaries in the southern half of Britain. Hampshire as a whole contains a greater proportion of woodland, acre for acre, than any other English county except neighbouring Sussex. Since woodland is, perhaps, the most important single ecological factor controlling the incidence and abundance of mammals in Great Britain, it is not altogether surprising that Hampshire's mammals are many in number and varied in species.