590 



NATURE 



[January 28, 19 15 



BY-PATHS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 

 (r) "T^HE aim of Mr. Dugmore's copiously-illus- 

 -L trated book is not only to portray the 

 beaver as a living- piece of Nature's marvellous 

 work, but also to explain how the harmless little 

 creature can justify its existence before man, and 

 how it has established its claims to consideration 

 at the hands of civilised humanity and to that 

 legal protection from the State which has been so 

 grudgingly accorded to it. It may at orice be 

 said that in every particular, except that for 

 which the bookbinder is responsible, the volume is 

 a success. 



The author begins by describing in the fullest 



essentials of hydrostatics, the management o 

 floating bodies, the utilisation of currents anc 

 backflows, etc. Is it all instinct, or is some of i 

 fore-knowledge, and conscious anticipation o 

 results? "Where is the way where ligh 

 dwelleth?" It is unprofitable to discuss insolubh 

 problems, but while it is reasonable to believe tha 

 the animal, however subject to innate impulses 

 must also make inferences in the same way a: 

 man does, it is extravagant tp suppose that i 

 has a perfect understanding of its doings — that i 

 formulates its experiences and reflects upon theii 

 practical application. 



Another chapter deals with the life-history of th( 

 animal — its birth and growth, its family and socia 



Part of a poplar grove which was completely cut down by a small colony of 

 branches, which were carried away to the storage pile. 



detail the working habits of the beaver ; its doings 

 as a woodcutter, an architect, and a roadmaker, 

 and most of all as a skilled constructor of dams, 

 canals, and other works for the control of water- 

 ways. Here the author has a good deal to say 

 about the unknowable psychological influences that 

 lie behind all these wonderful operations — the 

 selection and preparation of trees for felling, the 

 clearing of the road beforehand, and the nice 

 carpenter's calculations afterwards, the hydro- 

 graphic survey work, the neat appreciation of the 



1 (i) " The Romance of the Beaver. Being the History of the Beavar in 

 the Western Hemisphere." By A. R. Dugmore. Pp. xiv+225. (London: 

 Wm. Heinemann, n.d.) Price 6s. net. 



(2) " Bird Hiodraphies and Other Bird Sketches." By O. G. Pike. 

 Pp. xi + i8o. (London : Jarrold and Sons, n.d.) Price 6s. net. 



(3) " Concerning Animals and Other Matters." By E. H. Aitken 

 ■'Eha"). Pp. X + 196. (London : John Murray, 1914.) Price dr. net. 



[A. J^. Dugmore. 

 beaver. It will be seen that the trunks are entirely stripped of their 

 Fiom ■' The Romance of the Beaver." (Heinemann.) 



I 



NO. 2361, VOL. 94] 



relations, and the ordinary vicissitudes of its exist 

 ence. 



A third section treats of the beaver as an agen 

 in m.odifying the face of the earth, in particula 

 by converting insignificant streams into chains o 

 ponds and lakes. Such reservoirs, so long as th 

 beavers are there to attend to the dams, bring i 

 their train many benefits and conveniences, direc 

 and indirect; and after the animals have disaf 

 peared may become rich alluvial flats, the best 

 tillage for man. On these and other good groun 

 the author ardently advocates the protection 

 the beaver by statute, notwithstanding the fat 

 that it does a certain amount of damage to timb< 

 - — mainly, however, of inferior kinds. His gener 

 remarks upon the protection of wild animals a! 



f 



