Not So 'Giant'

Jap Snail Menace In N. Guinea

ALTHOUGH they are a great nuisance, and destroy much green foliage wherever they are, the giant snails released in New Guinea by the Japs, during the invasion, to provide a food supply, have not become the menace that first was anticipated.

When the snails were first reported in the three infected areas—Kavieng district, Rabaul district, and Hansa Bay (westward of Madang)—they were increasing at an appalling rate, were spreading rapidly across the countryside, and had attained sizes that were almost incredible. Now, some five years after they were released, they are reported to be spreading much more slowly, and their shells now rarely attain a size larger than half of a Com munist salute (the clenched fist!).

Nonetheless, it is still regarded by the New Guinea Department of Agriculture as a serious infestation, and it is receiving all the expert attention that can be pro vided. The Department, however, is look ing hopefully for help across the northern horizon where, in the Caroline and Mar shall Islands, the Americans are dealing with the same sort of infestation. The Americans are believed to have sent scientists to Africa, to seek the snail’s natural enemies: and if they can find some control of that kind, the Australian problem in New Guinea will also be solved.

The Japs brought the snails in as a protein food, and they and their prisoners are believed to have eaten this food. But neither the Caroline nor the more primi tive New Guinea natives have admitted the creature to their diet; and it does not seem to be preyed upon by anything in New Guinea. It simply is a nuisance, and a source of serious loss to the natives who cultivate gardens.