242 



NA TURE 



[July 14, 1898 



fpmale brood on the egj>s alternately ; while one is sitting 

 the other is not far off; but this occurs only in twenty- 

 eight per cent, of the genera, and these are on the whole 

 of somewhat inferior type. In sixty-five per cent, the 

 female alone undertakes the brooding, but the male is, 

 throughout, her faithful attendant, feeding her assiduously, 

 driving- away intruders, and cheering her with the joy of 

 his tumultuous song. In accordance with the teachings 

 of economics, we must regard this division of employment 

 as a sign of progress." . . . 



. " That family life, which T. H. Green, in his ' Prole- 

 gomena to Ethics,' so justly regards as the ultimate basis 

 of moral ideals (p. 257) ... is faintly seen in a few fish ; 

 it is not wholly absent among reptiles, but it is for the 

 first time distinctly observable among the lower birds, 

 increasing ever as the type advances, till we find the nest- 

 life of one of these higher birds to be marked by many 

 graces of an indubitably moral character. The conjugal 

 tenderness of the mated pair, and their unwearied self- 

 sacrifice in ministering to the wants of their offspring, 

 are ethically beautiful. Where these appear in an equal 

 degree in the human couple, we reckon them as a solid 

 fundamental element of goodness. Much else is required 

 of man and woman, but it is no slight praise to say ' he 

 was a kind husband and a devoted father,' or that ' she 

 was a tender wife and a mother of unwearied love and 

 self-sacrifice.' 



"The family life, which we see so beautifully developed 

 in these birds, is like the seed, enclosing within itself the 

 full potentiality of all the ethic good to be developed in 

 yet later stages, wherein a growing intelligence makes the 

 young always more and more dependent upon family and 

 social union." 



Similarly in mammalian species, the number of off- 

 spring decreases with each successive stage of increasing 

 intelligence and parental sympathy. It not only does so 

 in the four orders of monotremes, marsupials, deciduate 

 and non-deciduate placentalia, taken as wholes, but also 

 when they are severally analysed in much detail. It is 

 impossible to go further into this subject within the 

 space at our disposal. 



The portion of the book thus far noticed, is but a 

 small part in bulk of the whole, but it will be of superior 

 interest to those who are disposed to argue in a lazy 

 offhand way, that after parental instinct had attained the 

 level reached in the lower savages, its further evolution 

 would be merely a matter of time and of favourable 

 conditions. This was, however, by no means the feeling 

 of the author, for he has taken very great pains and 

 given much anthropological research to trace its actual 

 steps. It is only possible here to give extracts from his 

 summary. 



" The process of moral development, as I see it, has 

 been a slow dawning of parental sympathy, whence arises 

 a simple and natural morality which is strengthened by 

 the growth of the sense of duty and other accessory 

 developments of sympathy. Out of the morality thus 

 engendered springs whatever is moral in law, though, 

 fundamentally, law is not moral but retaliatory." 



One of the most interesting parts in the later portion 

 of the book relates to the evolution of the sense of 

 chastity. In the course of that discussion he treats 

 lucidly and with great fairness many vexed questions 

 concerning marriage in early times. He is in full 

 concurrence with and gives important contributions to 

 the present reaction against the excessive but clever 

 dogmatisms of McLennan about the universality of 

 marriage by capture, endogamy and exogamy, and the 

 NO. 1498, VOL. 58] 



rest. But it is impossible to cope in a short article witb 

 the wide range of careful inquiry contained in this really 

 remarkable book. Yet extensive as it is, some additional) 

 chapters have been written and afterwards omitted, as 

 the author informs us. Others, too, might have been 

 inserted ; for instance, it would be very interesting to 

 trace and describe the origin and purport of supersti tious 

 fears in human nature and their bearing on moral 

 instinct. F. G. 



THE ANIMALS OF ESSEX. 

 The Mammals, Reptiles^ and Fishes of Essex. By H. 

 Laver. Essex Field Club Special Memoirs, Vol. iii. 

 Small 8vo. Pp. viii -F 138, illustrated. (Chelmsford: 

 Durrant, 1898.) 



IN respect of physical conditions Essex is one of the 

 most favourably situated of the eastern counties of 

 England for the possession of a large local fauna, its 

 inland districts presenting variety of station, while it 

 has a large sea-board, forming an estuary into which 

 discharge several more or less important rivers. In- 

 deed, were it not for the pollution of the Thames, the 

 fish-fauna of the county would be even larger than is at 

 present the case, and would reckon among its con- 

 stituents the lordly salmon itself. Among other special 

 advantages from a naturalist's point of view the county 

 includes Epping Forest, which under its present excellent 

 administration forms a sanctuary for wild creatures of 

 many kinds. And in addition to its natural advantages, 

 Essex is fortunate in possessing a Field Club which 

 includes on its working roll many naturalists of high 

 capacity. It is to a member of this club that we owe 

 the present contribution to a knowledge of the fauna of 

 the county. 



So far as numerical completeness is concerned, the 

 author seems to have done his work thoroughly ; if he 

 errs at all, it is in mentioning certain species which 

 have admittedly been introduced into the county. The 

 scientific importance of local faunistic works is not. 

 however, to be reckoned by the number of kinds of stray 

 cetaceans and other wanderers they record ; but by 

 pointing out the reason why particular species are re- 

 stricted to particular districts, and in what respects the 

 local representatives of each species recorded differ from 

 their kindred in other districts. In both these respects 

 the work before us fails to come up to modern require- 

 ments ; since it completely ignores these portions of the 

 subject, and merely gives general notes of little or no 

 value on the animals mentioned. The work may be, and 

 probably is, of considerable interest to the residents of 

 Essex, but can lay no claim to a position of any scientific 

 importance. It may, however, be useful as a foundation 

 on which to build a more important superstructure, when 

 the naturalist arises who will treat the Essex fauna from 

 a broader standpoint. 



It is somewhat unfortunate that the work appeared too 

 soon after Mr. Thomas's revision list of the nomenclature 

 of British mammals to admit of the author following the 

 new light. In some cases, such as the retention of 

 Arvlcola for the voles, and of Lepus timidus for the 

 common hare, the author is obviously behind the 

 times. It may be uncongenial, but the sooner amateuar 



