THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

THE ANIMALS OF AUSTRALIA |

MAMMALS, REI^TILES, AND AMPHI-

BIANS. By A. H. S. Lucas, M.A., B.Sc., etc., Assisted by W. H. Dudley Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., etc., 'Director Zoological Garden©, Melbourne. Melbourne, Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin : Whitcombe and Tombs (Limited. 15s. (Reviewed by Dinoiinis.)

One of the best among" living naturalists — Professor J.^Arfchur Thornton — tells us in his perennially charming book, "The. Study of Animal Late," that the study of natural history should Begin with the observation of animal life in its familiar forms ; that the denizens of th© lield the forest, the hedgerow, and the chore/ amid the activities of their every-day existence, are the right subjects meriting the attention of the evolving naturalist. I am glad to be able tb quote this opinion, partly because it is that of A first-rate naturalist, partly because it coincides with my own opinion, and- also because, judged by fiuoh a .criterion, the work now before me, "The ATw'maife of Australia," has been laid out — modelled, as it -were — upon just suoh an id«a-. Working consistently upon their sensible idea, the authors have not only succeeded in producing a beautiful book that •will encourage original observation ; they have a3so blended 'with their matter a very comprehensive scheme cf zoological description t-hat will helip anyone fairly familiar with' the soientific terms used, to identify any native species or variety as nearly as may be. Thus" we have observation in both the lower and the higher plane properly catered for. The actual plan followed has been that already so well followed out in "The Airbreathing Animals of New Zealand,"' the purely scientific matter being detached in the text from the popular descriptive passages, which rightly occupy th© largest amount of page space. Even the most carping of critics will not readily find either serious or trivial flaws in- this fine book. Throughout its ' page's there is evidence in .plenty of thoroughlv-siited knowledge as well as of whole-hearted enthusiasm on the part of its authors. Both of them are maturalsets familiar with the rich and diverse fauna of the Australian continent, and that they have worked in brotherly hairmony is a direct inference deducible from the fact that their joint output is an able, attractive, *and harmonious, book. The . lavishly numerous illustrations show a wealth of animal life, that will surprise many even of , those who, think themselves fairly, well, posted in- the- natural hietory of Australia. To the greater number who are not familiar with it, but whose eyes are becoming opened to the marvels ""and wonders of life's lore as visible hi the most remarkable fauna- oai earth, -this book will prove a veritable treasure-house of fact stranger than fie-, tion. The ascertained facts of platypus development alone would give fame to the zoological province that owns this wonderful egg-laying mammal. But Australia has many points besides /that mark it as unique in a scientific way. Its marsupials give it great distinotion as well, for in ttoem'we ccc a single order which has become evolved into such an aggregation of species and family groups as no other part of the world can chaw. In fact, it is now generally admitted that such phenomena as is exhibited in the marsupial group of animals could not possibly come into existence save in thorough isolation. Just as a consequence of lands formerly continuous with it having 6unk beneath the waves, 'Australia has become what it is zoologically — if not a "fossilcontinent," as it has been called, yet a vast land area with more animal anomalies than any other region of the eaxih. The theory that the land area of the Australasian region was formerly of enormously greater extent than at present is now generally endorsed by geologists and others as- the only probable explanation in keeping with the known faete. The latest discovery of all, that of extensive coalbede found in the Antarctic region by the Shackleton Expedition, has an obvious and striking bearing upon this theory. The general facts brought into prominence din-ing the last 30 years or thereabouts, "and upon which the conception of the great, early Australasian continent, or archipelago," rest, are briefly and clearly outlined in an interesting " Introduction, which forms a useful key to the evolution of the characteristic Australian fauna. From the standpoint of th* naturalist and geologist Australia is iindoutedly one of the xnost attractive regions on the face of the earth. Of vast area, and posse^sin» a very wide variety of climatic conditions, it had the jainsjular distinction to become an isolated continent— an island, v) called—at a most interesting moment in geological time. While Australia was ( as yefc continuous in land area with the countries to the north of »t, and while it was still also portior of a widtelycxtended continental area stretching away towards South America, New Zealand; and probably also the Antarctic, the evoluwon of li~v"iixg -l>ein^«- lia.d jtiet attainea to tho first steps in mammalian development. The most characteristic Australian animals, the monotremes (platypus and echidna) and the marsupials (kangaroos and. their allies), are the surviving desoendante- of these early efforts in the evolution of the mammalia. Fossil mar- , supiale are found the earth over, but no living near relatives except the opossums of America. The tfien existing marsupials were^'it is fairly certain, the animal/ aristocracy, the leading products of evolu- , tkxn, when Australia, by the subsidence of ( adjoining land areas, became a watersurrounded continent. '

Within its confines now Australia holds many 6peoies of more highly-developed anitnak than those of marsupial kind.

It has rodents, bats, and carnivores which are rightly described by the authors as native species, and of these some at least have occupied the land for vast periods of time. The iingo, for example, which Is a dojr-like wolf, or wolf-like dog, is detcribed as having been established in tho land long before the human species appeared there — long before man was evolved, in fact. And the rodents also have dwelt long in the island continent. I am not alluding to the fruitful bunny, but to the rats and mice, of which there are niany widely-severed species and varieties, so different from those of other lands that their* lengthened sojourn is a certainty. On the other hand, the dingo would appear to have reached Australia as an already hfghly-specialise'd animal. Its fossil bones show it to have been much the same in. Pliocene times as it is now. It found a highly suitable environment, and thus both survived and preserved its characteristics. These members of the higher mammalia, witlh various snakes (and this book is rich in snakes), are to be looked upon as organic layers developed elsewhere and superimposed by immigration upon the far more antoient and uniquely Australian species. The coastal animals, whales, seals, sea leopards, sea-Kon, dngong, etc., add greatly to the interest of the fauna as a whole.

So rich is the Australian fauna in its mammals, Teptiles, • and amphibians that to give anything like adequate account of the "birds" also within the same volume would have been quite impossible. Those responsible foi' the beautiful and useful series of boo-ks to which " The Animals of Australia" is the latest and probably the most attractive addition have "wisely resolved to give the avian fauna a volume to itself. In the present volume it is plain to be seen on perusal that not an inch of space has been wasted.* The treatment throughout is- of a"" kind that will strongly attract the general reader, and the authors are to be congratulated upon the production of a book that will easily arod at once take front rank as a popular, and yet 1 scientific, epitome of AuistbaHan natural history.. This is a book, too, .that is in all technical regards a first-rate product of the modern press — one that will readily "bear coinpardßon with the best, wherever produced. The illustrations are very well chosen ; the popular descriptive portions of the text are simply worded and clear beyond reproach; the classifioatory passages are so arranged and worded that the veriest 'tyro could follow them. Those who have no hankering after zoolopfical method can peadiiy skip those sections and devote their attention to the natural history portions proper.