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 

 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 

 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 



J.A. 1. 



vii 



