colour reproduction which, in some 
cases, makes the species almost un- 
recognizable. The choice of species, 
too, is hard to follow, as many quite 
rare molluscs are dealt with quite fully 
while some very common species are 
omitted. Regrettably, therefore, it must 
bz concluded that this book does not 
fulfil its intended role and cannot be 
recommended. 
Brian J. Smith, 
Curator of Invertebrates, 
National Museum of Victoria. 
Aust-ralian Seashore Life 
By John Child 
(Published by Cheshire-Lansdowne in the Periwinkle series) 
Lightweight cardboard cover, approx. 5" x 7i". 87 pages and 16 pages of colour 
plates, with 35 half-tone plates and many in-text line drawings. Price $1.25. 
The stated intention of this book 
is to give the person with no previous 
knowledge an insight into the different 
groups of animals he is likely to come 
across on the seashore and a little in- 
formation about how they live, with 
the emphasis being placed deliberately 
on the less well-known groups. It com- 
mences with a general introductory 
chapter on life in the sea, dealing 
briefly with such topics as tides, zona- 
tion, food and feeding habits, and a 
few words on scientific classification. 
This is followed by 12 chapters deal- 
ing in turn with the main group of 
plants and animals commonly found 
living between the tides. These give an 
account, in a general way, of the major 
characteristics of the group and at- 
tempts to answer in a simple way some 
of the queries people have when meet- 
ing a strange animal for the first time; 
such as, how does it feed and what 
does it eat; how does it breed and 
what do particular structures do. It 
does not, however (nor for its size is 
it reasonable to expect that it should), 
supply descriptions of particular spe- 
cies, although in some cases specific 
examples are used. It must therefore 
be looked on as a very elementary 
marine biology textbook rather than a 
field guide. 
The choice of specimens and the 
reproduction of the colour plates are, 
on the whole, good and not only make 
the book more attractive, but are also 
very useful for a better understanding 
of the text. The half-tons plates are 
of a less high standard and suffer from 
inconsistent treatment in the informa- 
tion provided in the legends, where, 
in some, the species name is used, 
while in others the common name is 
all that is given. Worthy of special 
mention are the series of colour plates 
of anemones and the magnificent 
colour photograph of a flatworm 
showing much of the internal anatomy. 
In general the book achieves its 
stated aims and despite the unavoid- 
able errors through over-simplification, 
should prove to be of use in giving 
the novice some insight into the way 
of life of the animals and plants to 
be found on the seashore. 
Brian J. Smith, 
Curator of Invertebrates, 
Notional Museum of Victoria. 
54 
Vict. Nat.— Vol. 86 
