The Zoologist/4th series, vol 3 (1899)/Issue 691/Notices of New Books
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
The colours of plants and animals, or rather their superficial colourations, have always attracted naturalists, generally exciting admiration, and sometimes provoking enquiry. In earlier days problems of this description were disposed of by the invocation of teleology, or the doctrine of design, which afforded no explanation, and simply demonstrated an unknown quantity. The Darwinian epoch introduced what may be called the Utilitarian Theory, by which animal colouration was controlled by "natural selection" for useful purposes in the struggle for existence. In each case design is implied, but in the one it is more or less a theological conception, while in the other it is represented as a natural factor. The result is that teleology has died a natural death, while the Utilitarian Theory has become rampant. The "simple primrose" which was "nothing more" to the amiable teleologist, has developed into the mighty Banian tree by the aid of current theory. We had almost forgotten that colour represented a physical or chemical process, in our estimation of its adaptive and protective nature.
The purpose of Miss Newbigin's book may be said to bring back the subject of colouration in nature to a technical treatment; to remove it from the domain of pure theory; to glance at it throughout the vegetable and animal kingdoms; and to describe its essence without either attempting to explain its purpose, or accepting some other very feasible and popular explanations now current. The differences between pigmental and structural colours are fully explained, and those colours classified. In the first, as is well known, hæmoglobin and chlorophyll play their great parts, while pigments, "which are definitely waste products, or are produced by the modification of waste products," are now being seriously studied. When we remember the deadly effects of such "waste products" on the higher vertebrates, and that the yellow pigment found in the wings of many of the Pieridæ are due to "modifications of the ordinary waste products of the organism," we are forced with the authoress to suppose "that the wings of butterflies, being relatively non-vital parts, can have poisonous substances stored up in them without injury to the organism, and that therefore the utilisation of waste products as colouring agents can only occur in cases where the coloured structures are not intimately connected with the blood system."
The standpoint of this book is the physiological demonstration of animal colouration, the nature and elements of the colour itself, and not its evolutionary life-purposes. This treatment is neither sympathetic with, nor destructive to, the general conception of Protective resemblance and Mimicry. Colour alone must of course fall under the domain of Physiology and Chemistry, as, and in the same sense, all animal structure does, but this treatment does not explain its development in variety and markings; it only gives us its composites, and does not demonstrate its action as a force in the struggle for existence. In the last chapter, which is devoted to a discussion of "The relation of facts to theories," a rapid survey is given of the principal and perhaps most popular lines of modern speculation, and if Miss Newbigin has not come to bless, at all events most naturalists will agree with her concluding sentences: ".... in spite of the fluency with which so many people talk of the meaning of colour in organisms, the subject is as incomplete on the theoretical as on the physiological side. It seems reasonable to believe that the two deficiencies are related, and that a little more physiology will arm the theorists with better weapons. In the meantime, we cannot end a book on colour more fitly than by an appeal for more facts."
This volume contains many facts relating to animal colouration, and can be studied as well by a naturalist with a theory as by one who possesses it not. The bibliographical references at the end of the volume will assist a student of this fascinating subject.
This book is a happy combination of the literary versatility of the author—too little remembered as the writer of 'The Colour-Sense,'—and of the conscientious illustrations of Mr. Enock, who as described by Mr. Grant Allen is "an enthusiastic and observant naturalist, who thinks nothing of sitting up all night if so he may catch a beetle's egg at the moment of hatching; and who will keep his eye to the microscope for twelve hours at a stretch, relieved only by occasional light refreshment in the shape of a sandwich, if so he may intercept some rare chrysalis at its moment of bursting," &c.
These sketches, or "flashlights," are written in the clear and easy style which is usually termed "popular," but which will well repay the perusal of "serious" readers. Under titles which smack of what is sometimes described as "sensational," we find that "a beast of prey" is no other than our old friend "the common garden spider," of which a very full and interesting account is given, and a female of which—"Rosalind"—was observed closely through the whole of a season. This spider was seen to attack and conquer wasps, a subject recently discussed in these pages. The doings of Shrikes are described as "A Woodland Tragedy," and in discussing the capricious character of their distribution in this country, our author accepts a now very general view, "that this relative frequency or scarcity depends upon the distribution of their proper food-insects." Indeed, just as we all know that "an army fights upon its stomach," so we are beginning to understand that "commissariat lies at the bottom of most problems of animal life."
It is a pleasure to meet with an interpreter of nature who can translate her record into plain and happy language, especially when there is so often a tendency to predicate profundity by obscurity; but Mr. Grant Allen's pen is sometimes almost too facile, and literary accomplishments run away with the unadorned natural facts. Thus we read, "In the soft slimy mud, the shoots of the curled pond-weed lie by during the frozen period, hearing the noise of the gliding skates above them"; the mandibles of a "mosquito-larva" are not too happily termed a "big moustache," nor are the antennæ of a mosquito more adequately represented as a "beard." But a few pleasantries do not detract from the general accuracy of the book, which throughout runs the danger of being too well written and too entertaining. Nor does the author of 'The Woman who Did,' fear the lash of pseudo-scientific jargon in being termed a "neo-Lamarckian" for writing "Use brings structure."
The illustrations are excellent and instructive. The book has neither a preface nor index. The first is a very small matter, but the second is bad for both book and author if future reference is desired.
Animals of To-day, their Life and Conversation. By C.J. Cornish.Seeley & Co. Lim.
"The following chapters were originally contributed to the 'Spectator,'" is the opening sentence of the preface to this book, and we are reminded of a remark made by Addison in the first paper to the older 'Spectator,' "I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind, than as one of the species." Substitute "animal life" for "mankind," and we reach the plane of Mr. Cornish in this very interesting volume, the record of life-history being alone contemplated. The reprint of these weekly contributions in a complete form is very welcome, though we question whether they do not lose some of the original force as when they appeared singly, confined to one subject in moderate compass. Their reprint, however, clearly bears witness to what is now an undoubted fact, that the British reading public are at present thoroughly interested in the details of animal life.
Many facts which are supposed to be well known are here brought to light and emphasised. The Bactrian Camel "is a beast made to endure not heat but cold," as experienced Mongol herdsmen well know. The austere Goat is said, when city-kept in parts of New York, "to flourish on the paste-daubed paper of the advertisements which they nibble from the hoardings." As to the number of Cats in London, Mr. Cornish quotes a writer in the 'Daily Mail' for an estimate of 400,000. Mr. Hudson, however, in his 'Birds in London,' inclined to a much higher ratio in metropolitan feline population, believing in a probability of nearly three-quarters of a million, and a certainty of not less than half a million London Cats. In an interesting, but to the zoologist melancholy article on "Wild beasts' skins in commerce," it is stated, as generally believed, "that the last of the Quaggas was killed years ago." This is probably a fact, but the writer, quite recently when in South Africa, was told by a very high authority that strange reports had been received on this subject from the Western Coast region. Is it too late to restore the Beaver to our streams? Mr. Cornish thinks not, and their presence need not be much dreaded. "Shallow streams they dam; and to make this dam they cut down trees and do mischief. But on deep, slow streams, such as the Thames, they make burrows in the bank and 'lodges,' but do not attempt to build dams, because the water is deep enough for their wants. All they need is enough willow-bark to feed on. If anyone would turn out a few Beavers on the Thames, and let them have the run of an osier-bed, they would probably increase and multiply."
There are sixteen illustrations. That of "Rob Roy's Cattle" is an artistic success.
This is really the first volume of a most important publication, being nothing less than the commencement of a descriptive and analytical catalogue of the Moths of the World. The method is so clear and simple, and the wealth of illustration so ample, that any ordinary student cannot fail to identify, both generically and specifically, such species as he may desire to know, and in a classificatory sense understand; while to the entomologist the result of an exhaustive study, based on the comparison of nearly all available material, is a boon. Of course Sir George Hampson cannot expect that his proposed classification will be universally followed; that is a proposition which, however reasonable, is still an open question with most lepidopterists, but it is probable that the great use that must be made of these volumes in the future, in the determination of genera and species, and the demarcation of families, will carry very largely the classification along at the same time.
This classification is distinctly based on evolutionary principles, depending almost entirely on wing structure. The author, as an evolutionist, makes himself clear. "The present families and genera are not of course derived from other existing ones, but from their ancestors; and when a family or genus is said to be derived from another, all that is meant is, that in order to reach their present stage of specialization, their ancestors must have passed through a stage which would in essential points of structure come within the definition of the other family or genus. And as a corollary, the plan of the book is "to begin with the most highly specialized families, genera, and species, and gradually work down to the most generalized forms."
The Syntomidæ, as treated in this volume, number 1184 actually described species, of which a very large proportion indeed is figured, generic characters pourtrayed, and full synonymy given. The last does not represent the mere useless occupation of a specialist as some theoretical writers incline to stigmatize. A zoologist is supposed to know the animal kingdom and its members under one and not various names. This promiscuity is not altogether unavoidable by workers residing in different centres of activity, and of course absent from one general collection of types. To assist this work, material has been lent and given from all sides, which, added to the immense and almost unique Heteroceral wealth now contained in the British Museum and in private collections in the country, makes the specific verdict of this volume one likely to provoke little "appeal." These books mark a very prominent aspect of our age in all departments. "The rich are getting richer"; in commerce the large undertakings are swallowing up the smaller ones; everywhere we see centralization as a necessity exerting its sway; and so in the technical zoology of the future it will be understood that only large national collections worked by State aid can give the last words in the zoological nomenclature which will be accepted as a canon, and liberate naturalists for other work. If we compare this and other catalogues with the encyclopædic work which appeared in zoological literature towards the end of the last century, we may well take heart and fresh courage.
A separate issue of seventeen beautifully coloured plates accompany the volume for those who wish to acquire the same, and we trust that the author may have health and strength to finish the colossal undertaking. Meanwhile, as years must elapse before the whole of these volumes can be issued, it would be advantageous to the classificatory scheme of the author, and most useful to workers who would fall in line with the classification, if the names of existing genera under new family arrangements could be published elsewhere, and at an early date.