The Zoologist/3rd series, vol 1 (1877)/Issue 2/Notices of New Books
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
In the Preface to this important work the author describes it as "an attempt to collect and summarise the existing information on the distribution of land animals, and to explain the more remarkable and interesting of the facts, by means of established laws of physical and organic change."
Of living naturalists Mr. Wallace is probably the one best fitted, by his training and experience, to deal with the subject which he has undertaken: he is familiar with the aspects of life in three of the richest zoological provinces of the world,—namely, South America, and the Indo- and Austro-Malayan Archipelagos,—and those who know him personally are aware that the geographical distribution of animals has been a study with him for the last twenty years. The two published volumes which embody the result of his labours are divided into four parts, i.e., the Principles and General Phenomena of Distribution; the Distribution of Extinct Animals; Zoological Geography; and Geographical Zoology.
It would be impossible, within the limited space at our disposal, to discuss in detail the different subjects dealt with in the twenty-three chapters into which the work is divided, and we must content ourselves with presenting to our readers a faint outline of the general argument.
Mr. Wallace is of opinion that the existing continents and deep oceans are of great geological antiquity; that during the eocene period the bulk of the land was on the northern side of the Equator; and that in that hemisphere the struggle for existence was more severe than in the southern hemisphere. Consequently the highest and most specialized forms of animal life are to be found north of the Equator. In supporting his views, with much sound reasoning, Mr. Wallace has adopted the six zoological regions first proposed by Mr. Sclater in 1857, and these are now generally accepted as natural divisions of the earth's surface. With the exception that Mr. Sclater's Indian Region is altered by Mr. Wallace, in name only, to the Oriental Region, no other important change is suggested. The six regions accordingly stand as the Palæarctic, the Ethiopian, the Oriental, the Australian, the Nearctic, and the Neotropical; each being divided into four subregions.
The only subregion in which no mammals exist, except Bats, is New Zealand; and Mr. Wallace explains this fact by supposing that New Zealand has not been connected with any other part of the earth's surface since the creation of the Mammalia. The great region of Australia is almost destitute of placental mammals, showing, according to our author, a very ancient isolation of that part of the world.
The various cases of the existence of isolated forms in South America and South Africa are also explained by the supposition that these regions, separated in remote geological times, were large islands, and the struggle for existence there not having been so severe as in the northern hemisphere, low forms of Mammalia, such as the Edentata, Caviidæ, and others have survived to the present day. We are very much disposed to accept this reasoning, and it well explains the existence of such low forms of birds as Apteryx in New Zealand, the Tinamidæ, Dicholophus, and others in South America, Rhinochætus in New Caledonia, and such an aberrant form of the Accipitres as Serpentarius Africa.
In the opinion of Mr. Wallace, the present state of the globe is one of zoological depauperization, caused by the glacial period. It was probably owing to the separation of North from South America, at that period, that the complete extinction of the Proboscidea, Equidæ, Rhinocerotidæ, and other Ungulata was there effected. These animals were probably driven south by the cold, and, not having a large southern continent to retreat to, were completely exterminated. The existing Tapiridæ are the only descendants amongst the Perissodactyla that exist in the Neotropical Region at the present day, none being now found in the Nearctic Region.
Amongst insects, Mr. Wallace has wisely confined his attention to the groups best known, as the Rhopalocerous Lepidoptera and the more showy amongst the Coleoptera, because these alone have been sufficiently studied to afford adequate material for generalization. Mr. Wallace has a singular power of suggesting an explanation of a difficulty, and this is well shown in his observations on the occurrence of numerous insects in South Temperate America which belong to genera found otherwise in north temperate regions only. Amongst the diurnal Lepidoptera, for instance, species of the genera Hipparchia, Argynnis, and Colias, and several genera allied to Erebia, are found in South Temperate America, and form a sufficiently remarkable group of northern forms, to render an explanation of their origin necessary. Mr. Wallace, indeed, admits that both in diurnal Lepidoptera and in Carabidæ, the northern element is fully equal to the tropical, if it does not preponderate over it. The whole of his argument is too long to be here extracted, but he points out that the great mass of neotropical butterflies are forest species, and for countless ages have been developed in a forest-clad tropical country. The north temperate butterflies, on the other hand, are for the most part species frequenting the open country, haunting pastures, mountains, and plains, and often wandering over an extensive area. These would find in the higher slopes of the mountains vegetation and conditions suited to them, and would occupy such stations in less time than would be required to adapt and modify the forest-haunting groups found in the American lowlands. It should not be forgotten, also, that along the higher regions of the Andes there is an almost continuous temperate region, which would provide for the animals of Northern Temperate America a district along which they could pass through Tropical America into the cooler regions of the south.
Some naturalists are of opinion that the time has not yet arrived for the production of a book of such high aim as that now under consideration. It must be admitted that systematists are sadly behind-hand in the arrangement of many classes of Vertebrates, the classification of birds, for example, being in almost as confused a state as ever; but we can see no reason why the present generation of philosophical naturalists should be condemned to exist in a state of zoo-geographical ignorance. In a concluding paragraph Mr. Wallace expresses a hope that his work may bear to the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Mr. Darwin's 'Origin of Species' the same relation which that author's 'Animals and Plants under Domestication' bears to the first chapter of that work. It appears to us that the standard of excellence aimed at in the present undertaking has been satisfactorily and ingeniously attained.
Who is Thomas Edward, to whom the Queen has been pleased to grant a pension of fifty pounds per annum? and what has he done to merit such distinction? are questions which many persons no doubt have asked themselves on reading in the newspapers the recently-published letter of the Prime Minister. The answer is to be found in the book before us, and we have little doubt that to the majority of readers the story will be as little known as the name of its hero.
To readers of 'The Zoologist,' however, the name of Thomas Edward will be familiar, as that of a frequent contributor to the pages of that journal, and a genuine out-door observer and field naturalist, who in a quiet, humble way, has done much to further the progress of his favourite science.
A shoemaker by trade, at Banff, and a poor man, he had not the means to inform himself as others with similar tastes have done. With an intense love for Natural History, and a perpetual thirst for knowledge, "he endured," says his biographer, "as much hardship for the cause of Science as soldiers do in a prolonged campaign." He always lamented his want of books, and in the course of his collecting had frequently to send his specimens to other naturalists to be named, and thus he often lost them.
"Edward," we are told, "had to begin at the beginning with everything." He did not possess a single work on Natural History. He did not know the names of the birds and animals that he caught, or of the plants which he collected. For many years after he had begun his researches his knowledge of natural objects was obtained by chance. He knew little of the nature and habits of the creatures that he went to seek; he scarcely knew where or how to find them. Yet his very absence of knowledge proved a source of inexhaustible pleasure to him. All that he learnt of the form, habits, and characteristics of birds and animals was obtained by his own personal observation. Besides his intense love of Nature he possessed invincible determination, and this gave him an immense advantage. Whatever object in Natural History he desired to possess, if it were possible to obtain it, he never rested until he had succeeded. He sometimes lost for a time the object of which he was in search, because he wished to study its habits: for this purpose he would observe long and patiently before obtaining it, by which means he acquired an amount of information such as no book on Natural History could have supplied him with.
Dependent for an income upon his trade, he worked at it the livelong day, but early dawn and gathering twilight saw him far afield in eager search of natural living objects, while snatching his sleep at intervals between departing night and returning day. Occasionally, when kept late at work, he was prevented from enjoying his evening ramble. After going to bed, and taking a short sleep, he would set out in the dark in order to reach a particular spot by daylight, whence he would work his way homeward as the hour for business approached. Sometimes in his enthusiasm he would remain out all night, sleeping in a fox's or badger's "earth" which he had enlarged for the purpose: nor did he scruple to avail himself of a dry ditch, or even to lie upon the bare ground, when the exigencies of the case seemed to require it. How he managed to escape severe illness is a mystery; his constitution, it may be said, seemed "made to last." On such occasions his endurance was generally rewarded by some exciting adventure, or by the acquisition of some rare specimen of which he had long been in search.
Although he never succeeded in catching a Weasel asleep, he was once caught asleep by a Weasel! It happened thus:—Exhausted with fatigue he had flung himself down by a dyke-side and fallen asleep, having previously placed in his hat for safety some young birds which he had found during his ramble. He had not slept long when he was suddenly awakened by something cold pressing in between his forehead and his hat. It was a Weasel, who had scented the birds and was trying to get at them. Edward threw him away to some distance amongst the grass, and went to sleep again: but the Weasel found his way back, and again attempted to displace his hat. Three times was the pertinacious little animal repulsed and flung to a distance, and three times did he return to the attack; until the would-be sleeper was at length compelled to strangle him to secure a night's rest. He had a very similar adventure with two Rats, and on another occasion he had a most desperate encounter with a Polecat which he had seized with his bare hands, and after a severe struggle, in which he was terribly bitten and scratched, he succeeded in forcing down its throat some chloroform which he always carried with him for the purpose of killing insects, and eventually despatched it. Fancy administering a dose of chloroform, single-handed and barehanded, to a Polecat! Verily these Scotch naturalists have no lack of courage.
He had an odd adventure one night with an Owl. He had fallen asleep in a fox's "earth," with his head upon the lock of his gun: before entering the burrow he had caught a Field Mouse, which he wished to take home alive, and he thought the best way to do this was to tie a string, about six feet long, round its tail, and attach the other end to his waistcoat; the little fellow had thus full liberty to the end of his tether. While Edward was sleeping soundly, he was awakened by something tugging at his waistcoat, and by hearing some terrific screeches close to his head. Starting to a sense of recollection, he remembered the Mouse, and pulled back the string to which it had been attached. The Mouse was gone: nothing but the skin of his tail remained. He looked up and saw an Owl sitting on a tree a few yards off. The situation was explained.
Being resident, as we have said, at Banff, his rambles extended coastwise along the shore of the Moray Firth for about seven miles in one direction and about six in another. These excursions also extended inland for about five or six miles. He had thus three distinct circuits (many views from which have been beautifully drawn by Mr. Reed as illustrations to the present volume), and although he only proceeded on one at a time, he generally managed to visit each district twice a week.
The use which he made of his time may be judged from the result of these excursions. His accumulation of natural objects became something extraordinary: in eight years he had preserved nearly 2000 specimens of living creatures collected in the neighbourhood of Banff—quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustacea, corals, sponges, and other objects—to say nothing of a large collection of carefully-dried plants, the whole of which he learnt to mount or preserve himself. It is melancholy to think how this fine collection was afterwards sacrificed! Yet so it was. Quitting his native place, as many a man has done, "to better himself," Edward left Banff for Aberdeen, taking with him the whole of his treasures, and made a painful effort to gain a livelihood by opening his museum to the public at a small charge for admission. But "the people of Aberdeen were not yet prepared for such an exhibition, especially as it had been the work of a poor man. He was candidly told that he had come several centuries too soon!"
Very few visitors came, and those who did come knew very little about Natural History. The receipts, never large, became less and less, until, to save his family from starvation and to pay off debts unavoidably and most unwillingly incurred, the whole collection was one day sold for the pitiful sum of £20 10s.! It was purchased by a Mr. Grant for a son who had a taste for Natural History, and the specimens were all removed to his house at Ferryhill. They were afterwards removed to St. Nicholas Street, where they were stored up in some damp and unsuitable room, and, being otherwise neglected, it is believed that the whole collection eventually went to ruin.
It must have been a bitter pang to part with it—the cherished result of years of toil and trouble; but stern necessity stared him in the face, and Edward was glad to receive even the paltry sum he did to free him from the terrible anxiety of living without an income. He quitted Aberdeen and returned to Banff to work at his old trade, and felt happier to be amongst his old friends than with the unsympathetic folks he had left behind him.
Fortunately for others, although the collection had gone, the knowledge gained in forming it had been well stored, and, through the kindness of his friend the Rev. Mr. Smith, of Monquhitter, Edward, whose keen powers of observation gave eloquence to his descriptions, was enabled to impart much valuable information to many of his brother naturalists.
Those who would know something of what he has accomplished in only one department of Zoology, should consult Bates' and Westwood's 'History of British Sessile-eyed Crustacea,' wherein his services are fully acknowledged. Of the numerous Crustacea mentioned in that work, Edward collected one hundred and twenty-seven in the Moray Firth, of which twenty were new species! Many of his beetles and other insects he sent for identification to our late friend Edward Newman, who named them for him, and assisted him liberally with books on Natural History that were likely to be useful to him. Their correspondence originated in his articles on the "Birds of Banffshire," which began to appear in 'The Zoologist' in August, 1856, although this was not his first contribution to this journal. Mr. Newman asked for some information about fishes, which Edward promised to supply: the result was that many new fishes were found in the Moray Firth, simply from his determination to search for, collect, and preserve them.
When Mr. A.G. More was collecting material for his excellent papers on the distribution of birds in Great Britain during the nesting season, published in 'The Ibis' for 1865, Edward was asked by him to act as observer for Banffshire and the northern part of Aberdeen, in which capacity he communicated much useful information, which Mr. More fully acknowledged.
But his most important correspondence has been with Mr. Couch on British fishes, and with Mr. Spence Bate and the Rev. A.M. Norman on Crustacea. To these subjects two chapters (XV. and XVI.) have been wisely devoted in the volume before us, and Mr. Smiles has rendered a service to zoologists by bringing together in this way much valuable information which was previously scattered throughout various books and periodicals. These chapters are very instructive, and should be read in extenso.
Like many others, not alone naturalists, Edward has had his share of loss and disappointment. What more vexing than to lose a beautiful series of Lepidoptera through the depredations of mice, and to have a valuable collection of dried plants, which had taken years to prepare and name, entirely destroyed through the ill-mannered behaviour of a couple of cats?
There was one Crustacean about which some difficulty had arisen. It was Mysis spinifera, which Edward had first found in the Moray Firth in 1858. He had sent it to one of his correspondents to be named, but it remained unnoticed and unknown for at least four years, when it was re-discovered in Sweden by M. Goes, who at once published the fact. "Thus," says Edward, "the first finder, as well as the country in which this Crustacean was first found, have both been ignored in the records of Science."
But the day of disappointment, we trust, has passed: after years of unceasing labour in the pursuit of knowledge, and withal of patient struggling with adversity, perseverance has had its reward. Fortune at length has smiled upon our naturalist (in a twofold sense), and few will read the 'Life of a Scotch Naturalist' without echoing the words of the Queen, who, "touched by his successful pursuit of Natural Science under all the cares and troubles of daily toil," has graciously conferred on him a well-merited reward.
If we have abstained from criticising Mr. Smiles' share in this book, it is because we think that the sense of gratification which he must feel in having been the means of obtaining a pension for a most industrious and deserving man will be a far greater recompense to him than any praise bestowed by unknown critics.
Whether it is desirable to write a man's biography in his lifetime is a question upon which there may be two opinions. Mr. Smiles has anticipated the objection in his preface, where he pleads justification on the ground that his hero's life is well-nigh ended, and that his work is done. A further argument in his favour may now be found in the fact that had the 'Life' not been written, the Scotch naturalist would not have received his pension. Let us hope that he may yet live long to enjoy it.
Mr. Vennor, in his "Introduction," tells us that he has been engaged on the present work for thirteen years; and he writes:— "From the year 1865 to the present, in connection with explorations undertaken on behalf of the Geological Survey of Canada, I have had unusual facilities for field observation, and have traversed the greater part of that portion of Ontario which may be described as lying between the Ottawa river and its sources, and the St. Lawrence and its great lakes, a region the interior of which is but thinly settled, and comparatively unknown; also a large part of the country lying to the northward of the Ottawa river, between the Lake of Two Mountains and Pembroke." The author further informs us that he considers that the Ornithology of Canada has received a very fair share of attention from naturalists both at home and abroad. In this opinion, however, we cannot concur, for at present Canada compares in this respect very unfavourably with the United States. We therefore welcome with pleasure this first instalment of a work on the birds of that country, for we trust that Mr. Vennor will receive such an amount of appreciation as will induce him to continue his publications on this interesting subject. He is properly impressed with the difficulties which always attend the production of an ornithological work in these days of multiplied synonymy and many books, which he does well not to force upon his readers, and he is not content with the mere descriptions of the birds, but he also brings forward the characteristic details of the whole order Raptores, so that this work would give any student a good general idea of the birds of prey. This is to our mind one of the great recommendations of the volume; but Mr. Vennor has not thoroughly succeeded in impressing us with the advantages of photographic illustrations for an ornithological work. As specimens of photography the plates executed by Mr. Notman are admirable, but the stuffed specimens which are photographed are very unequal in merit. For those, however, who are inclined to adopt this mode of illustration, we will quote, in justice to himself, the author's words, "On the Attitude and Form of the Birds figured":—
On this point, the author, in the foregoing paragraph, has almost disarmed criticism, and, after reading what he says, we are inclined to agree with many of his arguments; for the purposes which he has in view, we must certainly say that the photographs, of which there are no less than thirty, give in most instances a much better idea of the species than badly executed plates would do under similar circumstances. The nomenclature of the Canadian birds of prey adopted by Mr. Vennor is principally that employed by Mr. Ridgway in the great work on 'North-American Birds'; but in certain instances we cannot agree with him, as, for example, when he classes the Greenland Falcon (Falco candicans) and the Labrador Falcon (Falco Labradorus) under the head of one species, which he calls Falco sacer of Forster. The information given under Swainson's Buzzard will be largely supplemented by future observations; for although Mr. Vennor appears to have been under the impression that the species was hardly distinct, there is really not the smallest doubt as to its being a very well-marked species, and representing in the northern part of the New World the well-known Common Buzzard of Europe. Again, Mr. Vennor follows Mr. Ridgway in treating the South-American Harrier (Circus cinereus) as a mere "variety" of C. Hudsonius; but we must remark, en passant, that if such well-marked birds are not to be considered as true and distinct species then all the other Harriers of the world may as well be united under one heading. He duly notes the rarity of blue-plumaged Harriers as compared with the brown-plumaged individuals, and it is possibly the rarity of the former that has prevented him from giving more than a figure of a female or young bird.
In conclusion, we may remark that no one can study this book without finding that it adds greatly to our knowledge of Canadian Ornithology, and we observe with pleasure the very careful notes on the habits and distribution of the species. In every instance, also, the soft parts of the birds are given—a feature omitted in the work on 'North-American Birds' above alluded to.
This little volume, as may be gathered from its title, is written perhaps rather for lovers of sport than for lovers of Natural History, but to both the book will be welcome. Every page bears upon it the impress of an observant study, both of man and animals, a power of imparting the fruits of such study to others, and a thorough appreciation of all those little lights and shades in Nature, apparently unimportant in themselves, but which unite to give force and beauty to the picture of life.
Our author takes us through many sports and some variety of country, beginning with one which we agree with him in thinking one of the most delightful—Fox-hunting. As we read, memories of the past come thick upon us. Again we see the wary old fox as he steals from the covert, the hounds quivering with excitement as they sweep on to the scent, and every nerve is braced as we follow our author o'er plough and pasture, clearing again, in fancy, the hurrying river, and crashing through the tangles of the bullfinch, too high to top. It is in scenes such as these that Mr. Rooper, like his fox, is most thoroughly "at home"; but his enthusiasm is not confined to the saddle. In a short sketch he gives us a week in the Western Highlands, and though our company there consists only of a holiday-making employé from a London warehouse, who, having purchased a ten-shilling gun-license, fancies himself every inch a sportsman, still we enjoy the week almost as much as the cockney hero. The description of the Scotch laird and his gillie is capital, their Gaelic unimpeachable, and over the whole is blown a scent of the "muirs" that is really refreshing.
From Scotland we travel to the Sister Isle for salmon and trout-fishing, returning rifle in hand to bring down the buck in our own southern counties, where we again fall in with our cockney friend disporting himself with the "Harriers" at Brighton and the "Queen's" in the Harrow Country.
Most, if not all, of these stories were published many years ago under the title of 'Tales and Sketches,' but they come before us now with some additions, not the least noticeable of which are eight full-page illustrations, somewhat rough perhaps, but withal full of spirit. Indeed, the artists' names (Georgina Bowers and J. Carlisle) sufficiently guarantee their excellence.