Glimpses of Animal Life Toilers in the Sea Les Industries des Animaux

Abstract

MR. JONES'S book is a charming little volume of 229 pages, with one illustration forming a frontispiece. There are, in all, seven chapters; dealing, in succession, with “Playfulness of Animals,” “Animal Training,” “Musical Fishes”(title ill chosen), “Nest-Building and Walking Fishes,” “Luminous Animals,” “Birds' Nests in Curious Places,” and “The Mole.” The author has been at immense pains to sift the voluminous literature of his subject (a task which he admits has involved a “somewhat unprofitable course of romance reading”). We find, as might be expected, citations of the old old stories of our youth; the climbing perch, Cowper's hares, and other time-honoured (if perhaps too highly coloured) narratives appear; the luminous centipede is not overlooked; and authorities are appealed to, from Aristotle and the ancient classical writers of the past, down to Lubbock and Romanes (“the Rev. Dr. Romanes” [sic], p. 25) of to-day. The work is essentially a compilation; it consists mainly of a collection of lengthy extracts, and the author has left himself little room for originality. There results from this an occasional heaviness of style, which is especially noteworthy in the earlier portions of the volume. Paragraphs too frequently lead off with “Broderip mentions,” “Evelyn records,” “Humboldt saw,” and the like; and not even stories of the gambols between a rhinoceros and an elephant, or of those of a 60-foot whale, serve to relieve the monotony. It is doubtful whether the author has not occasionally erred in the placing of his anecdotes. To take a leading instance; on p. 32 there is recorded the story of a parrot, “which, when a person said to it, ‘Laugh, Poll; laugh!’ laughed accordingly, and the instant after screamed out, ‘What a fool to make me laugh!’” This narrative cannot be said to betray any sense of playfulness on the part of the bird, as would be inferred from its position in the text; it surely should have found a place under “Animal Training.” The most serious defect in the book is the absence of an index. The author has brought together a very remarkable series of anecdotes; and if he would give us an exhaustive index, together with a complete bibliography, his book would befit the more special and advanced student of animal life. Without these it can only appeal to the dilettanti; and we shall look for them in a future edition. We would point out, at the same time, that the climbing perch is referred to on p. 151 as Perca, and on 157 as Anabas (the latter being correct); that “Willmoes” (p. 185) should read Willemoes Suhm; and that Mr. Romanes does not lay claim to the distinction accorded him on p. 25 (cf. supra). The author, as he enters into details not usually met with in books of this kind, might advantageously incorporate with his account of the stickleback's nest, the discovery of Möbius and Prince that the thread employed in weaving it is secreted by the animal's kidney. So unique a fact in natural history should not be allowed to pass unnoticed; and that portion of the work which deals with the luminous fishes might well be brought more completely up to date.

Glimpses of Animal Life.

By W. Jones. F.S.A. (London: Elliot Stock, 1889.)

Toilers in the Sea.

By M. C. Cooke. M.A., LL.D. (London: S.P.C.K., 1889.)

Les Industries des Animaux.

Par F. Houssay. (Paris: J. B. Baillière et Fils, 1890.)