book review to N v vtanju, 



A Guide ro the Native Mammals of Australia 



hv VV I) L Ride, with drawings 

 by Ella Fry, 



Published l-v Oxford t 'niver.sily Prtiv.. Melbourne. WO. $7.50. 



"I his guide to the mammals of 

 \trstralia, about the mammals fit) an 

 altered and altering continent, is as 

 much an introduction to the pioh- 

 lems of conserving the mammals as 

 ii is a guide EC the kinds ol mam- 

 mals themselves". 



this introductory staiement may 

 mdicaie an important theme in Dr. 

 Ride's hook, hut the major value of 

 ihe work lies in its presentation "I 

 an up-io-daie summary of the Aus- 

 tralian mammal fauna. 



For i he past 30 years, naturalist 

 and student have had to rely on 

 books such as Troughton's Furred 

 Animuls of AhmiuIiu, a work which 

 included 161 "species" of marsupials 

 and S6 native members of the moose 

 family. In Ride's book, marsupials 

 number 124 species and native 

 murids only 48. TlUS 10 percent 

 reduction in species is not mdkative 

 ol omissions but represents a more 

 rational system of classilicalion aris- 

 ing fiiini work of manv manim.tlo- 

 gisls during recent decades. It is an 

 interesting thought that (his rational- 

 ization is by no means complete, 

 and further reduction in recognized 

 species may be anticipated in the 

 future. In the meantime \vc have a 

 much-needed up-to-date list of 

 species names, as a standard both 

 for those who write and for those 

 who read about Australian mam- 

 mal*. 



The book begins with discussion 

 of patteillS of natural distribution 

 and habitat of our mammals, and of 

 changes broughi about by the intru- 

 sion of man into their realm. This 



is followed by an intensely intcn'M 

 nig chapter which outlines the his 

 loiy ol rediscovery or rehabilitation 

 of several species, such its Kuala I 

 and Parma Wallaby, and. as the 1 

 aulhor slates, fascinating human t 

 stories and romance lie behind each 

 one ol these". There is brief out 

 hue of aspects such as evolutionary 

 ImlQry, Zoogeography, adaptive radu 

 lion and convei gence, that have , 

 broughi about patterns which we sec 

 now m the Australian mamnu; 

 ftlUM! and piobleins of the scientific 

 and populai naming of our specie 

 are discussed. 



It is gratifying to note that "mam 

 I'amilar, and much quoted, stale 

 me i il\ have been omitted ... be- 

 cause mans of theSC ohv.'i \ aiions an 

 anecdotal and . . . are found to be 

 based upon unreliable and unsul- 

 stanliated identifications, or even 

 lirsi appear in the literature al 

 secondhand", litis principle cannm 



be recommended too strongly to 

 writers of those colorful natural his- 

 tory hooks which are now being pub- 

 lished in ever-increasing numbers 



Or. Ride avoids the problem nt 

 standard populai names by simply 

 giving a seiies of alternatives for each 

 species, and he has "tried to avoid 

 introducing new ones". A notable 

 departure from the last principle 

 however, is the innovation of the 

 rather clumsy 5-syllable "anteehni- 

 uses" for what eastern Ausiialians 

 know as phascogalcs. I As a popular 

 name, phascogalc is shori and eupho- 

 nious, and il is as appropriate lor 

 members of the genus AnttrhftVU H 



V.cf Nat, Vol 88 



