i9o8. 157 



REVIEWS. 



LIVE ZOOLOGY. 



Animal Life. By F. W. Gambi^E, D.Sc, F.R.vS. Pp. xviii. + 306. 

 With 63 illustratious. Londou : Smith, Elder, & Co.; T908. Price, 

 6s. net. 



In his preface, Dr. Gamble describes this volume as '* a small work deal- 

 ing with the adaptations and factors of animal life in a broad and con- 

 nected manner." His performance abundantl}' justifies the description; 

 the book is an admirable exposition of" live" natural history. The 

 structure of various animals belonging to all the great phyla is discussed 

 in relation to the functions and environment of the living organism, 

 and the reader cannot fail to obtain a comprehensive view of the history — 

 in its wide sense — of animal races. There are three short chapters dealing 

 respectivel}- with the interest of animal life, the abundance of animals 

 on laud and in water, and a brief survey of the animal kingdom, with 

 especial reference to the vertebrata. Then follow a series of chapters 

 devoted to various functions with illustrations drawn from diverse groups 

 of animals; in this manner Movement, Feeding, Breathing, Sensibility, 

 Colour, and Reproduction are successively discussed at length ; and, 

 arising as a natural appendix to the chapter on Reproduction — the 

 " Welfare of the Race,' as Dr. Gamble entitles it — we have in conclu- 

 sion a chapter on the specialized types of reproductive and social activity 

 afforded by the Life Histories of Insects. 



The treatment and scope of these chapters will be evident from a few 

 examples. Under " Movement"' is included a discussion on ciliary 

 motion, and an account of the migration of birds. In the liistor}- of the 

 " Quest for Food " we are reminded both of the elaboration of the molars 

 in Ungulata and the snare-making instincts of spiders. The chapter on 

 coloration gives a summary of the facts about cryptic and warning ap- 

 pearance, now familiar to all readers of popular natural histories,but there 

 is also an interesting account of Dr. Gamble's own researches on the deve- 

 lopment in pattern in Hippolyte, and a suggestive discussion on the 

 part played by chlorophyll and by blood-pigments in the origin of 

 animal colour generally. 



Of course in such a general introduction to the study of zoology as he 

 gives us in this book. Dr. Gamble may be considered too dogmatic in 

 some of his statements on points that are still subjects of discussion 

 among naturalists. The "selection value" of protective coloration and 

 mimicry, and the development of male adornment through female choice 

 might be regarded by the uninstructed reader as results beyond all 

 doubt, from the treatment of these subjects by Dr. Gamble. The 

 Peckhams' observations on the habits of the Attidie are referred to 

 as if they applied to spiders generally ; the support afforded l)y these ob- 

 servations to the theor}' of sexual selection is the more striking if we 

 remember that the family (Attidie), in which these observations of court- 

 .ship and choice have been made, is the one family of spiders in which 



