PREFACE 



THIS simple book consists of six lectures 

 which I had the honour and pleasure of 

 giving at the Royal Institution in the Christ- 

 mas holidays, 1920-1921. The aim of these 

 lectures was mainly to help my very alert 

 audience to form vivid pictures of the great 

 ^ haunts of animal life, and to get glimpses of 

 X the subtle ways in which living creatures solve 

 the problems of particular places. I have 

 kept in the printed pages as closely as I could 

 to what I said at the time, hoping to secure 

 *J^ the virtue of simplicity. I think it would be 

 very ungracious if I did not use the oppor- 

 tunity of this preface to thank Sir James 

 Dewar, LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., for the great 

 kindness that he showed me when I was for 

 a delightful fortnight in the service of the 

 Royal Institution. TAT 



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