926 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 782 



tracks, speed, mind, environment, range, mi- 

 grations, numbers, food, property, storage 

 habit, sociability, means of communication, 

 senses, amusements, nesting, homes, sanita- 

 tion, training of the young, morality, enemies 

 and disease, odd partnerships, commensalism, 

 etc. These subtitles appear as side-headings 

 in the text under the species, having been first 

 defined and explained in the introduction. 



To speak more in detail, the introduction is 

 one of the most important parts of the book, 

 beginning as it does vs^ith a Sketch of the 

 Physical Features of Manitoba (pp. 1-11), 

 followed by a section on The Faunal Areas 

 and Life Zones of Canada (pp. 11-22), and a 

 statement of the General Plan of Treatment 

 for Each Species (pp. 22-34). Under the first 

 section, treating of the geology and physical 

 features, a map illustrates the distribution of 

 the deciduous and coniferous forests, the sand- 

 hills and marshes of the province. The sec- 

 tion devoted to faunal areas is illustrated by 

 a faunal map of North America, excluding the 

 tropics, the continent being divided into three 

 primary regions, arctic, temperate and trop- 

 ical, and these again into smaller areas desig- 

 nated as faunas and subfaunas. The lines of 

 division are mainly in accord with those recog- 

 nized by other recent authorities, corrected in 

 certain details by the author's own researches, 

 and with several new minor subdivisions. A 

 diagram on page 21 shows the relationships of 

 the zones and faunas of the temperate region, 

 shaded to indicate the relative amount of rain- 

 fall in each. His two primary boundary lines, 

 separating the temperate region respectively 

 from the arctic and tropical, are the Arctic 

 Circle and the Tropic of Cancer, the first 

 being, roughly, the southern limit of perpetual 

 frost in ground exposed to the direct rays of 

 the sun, the other the line where frost ceases. 



Under Plan of Treatment, each subtitle of 

 the life history of a species is concisely de- 

 fined. It is here said : " The environment is 

 the creator of the animal, the mold in which 

 each species was cast " — of course in the ulti- 

 mate sense. " The range of the animal," he 

 adds, " is part of its environment, and long 

 ago I came to the conclusion that every animal 

 is changing its range." That such is the case 



in Manitoba, with respect to several species, 

 he brings forward indubitable evidence. Mr. 

 Seton first became a resident of Manitoba in 

 1882, at which date certain species were en- 

 tirely absent from the province which have 

 since not only entered it, some from the south- 

 east and some from the southwest, but have 

 possessed themselves of considerable portions 

 of its southern border. These are species 

 which for the most part find in the opening 

 up of new areas to agriculture favorable 

 changes in environment. 



The amount of space given to the different 

 species varies in accordance with their impor- 

 tance and interest, or, perhaps more correctly, 

 with the amount of information available re- 

 specting them. Thus some of the smaller 

 rodents have as miTch space given to them as 

 is given to the elk or wapiti, while still more 

 is naturally given to the beaver. As an illus- 

 tration of the method and fulness of treat- 

 ment, the wapiti and pocket gopher may be 

 cited. The account of the former occupies 

 30 pages, with a full-page plate of the animal, 

 a full-page map showing its distribution and 

 three full pages of figures illustrating the 

 antlers (24 figures). The text gives first its 

 names (English vernacular, technical, French 

 Canadian and Indian) ; its family, generic and 

 specific characters (the latter including meas- 

 urements, weight, color) ; a list of the forms 

 (subspecies) now recognized; a history of its 

 early discovery and its early names, followed 

 by the " life history," under the subheadings 

 range, ancient numbers (estimated at 10,000,- 

 000), dwindling, in Manitoba, present number 

 (estimated at 45,650 in 1907), signs, tracks 

 (illustrated), wallows, dance, mating, antlers, 

 record heads, the war-cry, pugnacity, the battle, 

 the finish. 



In the case of the pocket gopher, a full-page 

 plate is given of the animal (life-size), a full- 

 page map showing the range of the gopher 

 family and a small map of the range of the 

 northern pocket gopher in Manitoba; sketches 

 of the fore and hind feet; life studies of the 

 animal, showing numerous poses and attitudes 

 in burrowing; a full-page and several other 

 smaller diagrams of its burrows and tunnels 

 under the snow, and others showing the fre- 



