The Zoologist/4th series, vol 1 (1897)/Issue 671/Notices of New Books
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
This publication forms a recent addition to the "Contemporary Science Series," of which the first volume, which appeared in 1889, was written by Geddes and Thomson, and devoted to the question of the "Evolution of Sex"—a biological problem of no mean importance, and one which few zoologists have not in some form, or at some time or other, been forced to consider. There is therefore a somewhat natural sequence in Mr. Ellis's more special contribution to a knowledge of the real differences which divide the human sexes—a study of the deepest importance to the anthropologist and of no little interest to the zoologist. Perhaps no fact in nature has been more universally observed, and as well by the ignorant peasant as by men of the highest culture, that in thought and sentiment men and women are diverse. But, as our author observes, though perhaps with some asperity:—"For the most part questions of sexual difference have been left of recent years to magazine essayists—whose lucubrations are generally too slight and too purely literary to deserve mention—and to philosophers; of the latter, Lotze, Schopenhauer, and Herbert Spencer have perhaps touched the matter with most acuteness, though perhaps in an incomplete and one-sided manner." This, however, can scarcely be said of Darwin's masterly exposition of "Sexual Selection in relation to Man," with which the question in recent years was really focussed.
One of the main contentions of Mr. Ellis is that woman is not "undeveloped man," but rather that "women remain somewhat nearer to children than do men." To understand the gist and real tendency of this argument it is necessary to remember that in animal life there is much deterioration, or departure from the evolutionary ideal in the adult stage. "The infant ape is very much nearer to man than the adult ape." "The ape starts in life with a considerable human endowment, but in the course of life falls far away from it; man starts in life with a still greater portion of human or ultra-human endowment, and to a less extent falls from it in adult life, approaching more and more to the ape."
Woman is therefore on these lines not degraded by the comparison of an infantile diathesis.
Whether, however, the reader who peruses the wonderful array of facts marshalled in this book—and there is not a dull page—will come to the same conclusion as the author is a very open question, but assent or dissent on this point is unnecessary to the real value of the volume, which may be called a monograph of human sexual variation. In conclusion, we heartily concur with Mr. Ellis in the view that "To arrive at any reliable knowledge of mental sexual differences it is no longer enough to formulate suggestive impressions or brilliant theories. These have a certain interest and value, it is true, but they have no part in any knowledge that can be called science. It is along the lines of precise experiments that we may reasonably hope to obtain a more definite and objective knowledge of mental differences."
There sometimes seems an impression abroad that ornithologists are a body of enthusiasts who seek to destroy birds in order that they may study them afterwards; and it is not long since that the present Editor was told that 'The Zoologist' was a magazine devoted to chronicling the details of bird slaughter. At all events the "Society for the Protection of Birds" receives the support of some of the ornithologists well known to our readers, for these "Educational Series" are not only edited by Mr. H.E. Dresser, but include among the contributors the names of Thomas Southwell, O.V. Aplin, and J.A. Harvie-Brown.
It is to be hoped that this little publication may be circulated broadcast over the country; in fact, we should be glad to see it made the occupation for a few ornithological colporteurs. We are not among the fanatics who decry the necessary process of addition to the ornithological cabinets, which has afforded us delight and instruction in the past, and is still anticipated as a cherished hope of the future, but there are birds in this country—to go no further afield—to which only organised protection can prevent ultimate extermination, for ignorance of their habits is a principal cause of their destruction. In this first instalment of the series, the birds described are Owls, Woodpeckers, Starlings, Swallows, Kingfisher, Osprey, Dippers, Nightjar, Titmice, Kestrel, and Plovers, and a woodcut is given of each, so that he who reads can clearly understand. Not only are their food and habits enumerated, but the penalties for their destruction are clearly detailed, a perusal of which will certainly surprise many a birdnesting boy and amateur bird-catcher.
This is another volume of "Allen's Naturalists' Library," and forms part of the section devoted to Entomology, a subject entrusted to Mr. W.F. Kirby. The present volume refers to thirteen families of moths, of which the Sphingidæ, Bombycidæ, Saturniidæ, and Lasiocampidæ are perhaps the most generally known to most readers. Many of the more important genera and species are described from all parts of the world—a special and fuller treatment being accorded to our British species—and the coloured plates, of which there are no fewer than thirty-one, contain representations of some species not before figured, and others of great rarity. But useful and interesting as these features are, this book will be more often consulted for an excellent essay "On the Systems of Classification of Moths," and a still more important "Sketch of the Literature of Lepidoptera." Mr. Kirby is well known as one of the best entomological bibliographers of the day, and therefore in these articles we find a most accurate condensation of literary information which an amateur will find instructive, and a specialist interesting reading.
The first essay, devoted to a retrospect of the principal systems proposed for the classification of moths, commences with that of Linnasus in 1758, and terminates with that of Dr. Packard in 1895. A survey, or rather a study, of these propositions, made in a fairly eclectic spirit, cannot fail to be advantageous to the method of a cabinet arrangement, even if leading to no higher biological conception.
In the sketch of the literature of Lepidoptera we are somewhat appalled by being reminded that "eighteen languages at least are employed in entomological works at the present day." Class A, of which a knowledge is considered necessary, includes English, French, Latin, and German. Class B, important but less necessary, comprises Dutch, Swedish, and Russian. Class C, valuable, but still less necessary, contains Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, and its near ally Norwegian. Class D, sometimes wanted, as Polish, Czech, and Magyar. Class E, probably unimportant, in which is enumerated Croatian, modern Greek, and Japanese. We are consoled by the reflection that though we know many entomologists, we are unacquainted with any possessing such polyglot accomplishments.
The faunistic bibliography given by Mr. Kirby is an excellent compilation, containing all that must be consulted for a primary knowledge of the Lepidoptera of the various regions detailed. There is also to be found a good list of the principal "books on Lepidoptera in general."