234 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



animal coloration, for which a number of terms have now been 

 invented as though they were theological definitions. The theory 

 of Mr. Thayer describes a universal phenomenon which is more 

 consonant with a progressive evolution than the partial and 

 abrupt disguises predicated in the current teachings of mimicry. 

 All animals in a state of nature seek concealment from their 

 foes, in some form or another all have that protection, and the 

 " obliterative " suggestion thus explains very much. In the 

 evolutionary process all animals must have also slowly acquired 

 a knowledge of the benefits arising from this obliterative pro- 

 tection, so that active concealment by animal volition should be 

 considered as a factor in this phenomenon, a course which will 

 strengthen rather than weaken its comprehension. 



In Mr. Thayer's description of the obliterative markings of 

 the Zebra we find no reference to Mr. Francis Galton, who, in 

 the ' Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa,' pub- 

 lished in 1853 (chap, x.), not only discussed the " bright colours 

 of skulking animals," especially that of the Zebra, but may be 

 said to have been the first, in other words, to propound the 

 theory of "obliterative coloration." 



The many and beautiful illustrations in this volume supple- 

 ment and explain the text. 



The Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool Bay. Edited by 

 T. A. Coward, F.Z.S. Witherby & Co. 



The two beautiful volumes that comprise this last addition to 

 our knowledge of the local or county zoology of the British 

 Islands are edited and largely written by our old and well-known 

 contributor, Mr. T. A. Coward, who, with another valued con- 

 tributor, Mr. C. Oldham, are entirely answerable for the first 

 volume relating to the mammals and birds. 



Of the mammals, we are told, forty-six species occur or 

 have occurred within recent years in Cheshire and its terri- 

 torial waters. " Very little documentary evidence exists of the 

 recently extinct mammalian fauna, and owing to the absence 

 from Cheshire of limestone caverns, which have yielded a 

 rich harvest of remains of the Pleistocene Age in the neigh- 



