REVIEWS 691 



Some of the laboratory exercises embodied in the remaining eighty pages 

 seem rather too comprehensive, or perhaps might develop manipulative skill 

 rather than the understanding, but many of them are excellent. 



In general, the volume is well worth reading. If we feel sometimes, in so 

 doing, that there should be two volumes, one on the interesting facts alone and 

 the other on their scientific interpretations, we may still hope that the artistic 

 feat of uniting the two into one without visible discontinuity will ultimately be 

 achieved in the sixth edition. 



L. 13. 



ZOOLOGY 



Life-Histories of African Game Animals. By Theodore Roosevelt and 

 E. Heller. [Vol. I, pp. xxviii + 420 ; Vol. II, pp. x + 421-798.] (London : 

 John Murray, 191 5. Price 42s. net, 2 vols.) 



Some people maintain that the killing of animals is not justified on any grounds 

 save those of self-defence or the need of food, and they are perhaps the only ones 

 that will not read these two volumes with enjoyment. If ever the reasonable 

 shooting of game animals, not of course the killing for the mere love of slaughter, 

 should need a defence, a good one could be found in these two volumes. The 

 expedition whose results are recorded in this work, commanded by Colonel 

 Roosevelt, went to East Africa for the sake of acquiring information about the 

 larger mammals and specimens to complete imperfect series in the United 

 States Museum. Full use was made of all the material killed, and substantial 

 additions were made to our knowledge of wild life in this part of the world. 



Mr. Roosevelt attacks the problem with the vigour that characterises his 

 activities in other spheres, with the result that the chapters dealing with theoretical 

 questions make very vivid reading. Most biologists are familiar with the " Theory 

 of Protective Coloration " and with some of the remarkable extremes to which 

 various authors have endeavoured to carry it. The theory is evidently a bete noire 

 to the writers of this book, and the attack on it is carried out with all the vigour, 

 but it is pleasing to note, none of the rancour, that is usually associated with a 

 political controversy. While not following the authors in all their contentions it 

 must be recognised that they have challenged the supporters of protective colora- 

 tion with a series of criticisms that they will find hard to meet and impossible 

 to ignore. It is a great disappointment to find that they have not put forward 

 any explanation of the fact that is bound to force itself on any naturalist, from the 

 pure collector upwards, who has not had the good fortune to see the larger 

 mammals in their natural surroundings, namely, that the coloration of most 

 animals is such that it renders them far harder to see in the open than a similarly 

 shaped but differently coloured piece of material would be. The authors them- 

 selves are forced, apparently somewhat grudgingly, to admit that there may be 

 something of this sort, but if there is, it is " probably due to the inheritance ot 

 acquired characters." This phrase, meaningless, as they bring no arguments 

 forward to support it, occurs more than once. 



The chapter on Game Preserves is also interesting, and a well-deserved 

 tribute is paid to our game laws and the way they are administered in British 

 East Africa. 



The major part of the volumes is devoted to a description of the different 

 species, their varieties, habitat, and mode of life, and the authors are to be con- 

 gratulated on their employment of a trinomial nomenclature to indicate regional 

 variation instead of splitting one group of animals into a number of separate 



