BOOK REVIEWS

The Physiology of Domestic Animals. By H. H. DUKES. London: Bailli&re, Tindall & Cox Ltd. 1955. Seventh Edition. Pp. xii + 1,020, 238 illustrations. 80s.

A new edition of this well-known and widely used textbook has been badly wanted for several years, and its appearance is most welcome. The author has again wisely incorporated chapters by a number of specialist workers, and with the addition of M. R. Kare (chapter on "Water, Electrolytes, and Acid-Base Balance") and J. A. Dye (three chapters on intermediary metabolism) to the list of contributors the book takes a further step towards an edited work. An appendix on "Lecture Demonstrations in Physiology" is a further innovation, while the number of illustrations has been increased from 184 to 238.

The expansion of the text has clearly been based upon considered revision rather than upon mere additional matter. Indeed, with the appearance since the previous edition o f Sturkie's Avian Physiology and Albritton's Standard Values in Blood, some of the previous tables have been curtailed and references given in their place to these specialist works. The citing of new references in full, with title is a welcome feature, and "Dukes", although de- signed originally for veterinary students, must be regarded as of growing value to all, including research workers, who are interested in veterin- ary and comparative physiology. It should be accessible to all who are concerned with prob- lems of mammalian and avian behaviour.

A.N.W.

Keeping and Breeding Aquarium Fishes. By C. W. EMMENS. New York: Academic Press Inc. 1953. 202 pp. 36s.

Written primarily for aquarists specialising in tropical fish, this book contains practical information on the up-to-date application of general principles of aquarium management and fish breeding which are too often misunderstood, or disregarded from familiarity, yet are of vital importance to keepers of any kind of fish, for any purpose. Tank capacity, water qualities and aeration are among topics dealt with and in regard to the setting up and furnishing of tanks the book is refreshingly free of "notions." The chapter on foods and feeding is of special interest since it includes recent useful additions

to the traditional fish foods and mentions anti- biotics--with a word of caution that know- ledge of their long-term effects is at present scanty. Special chapters deal with the breeding habits of particular Tropicals and care of the fry. The book is illustrated with photographs and diagrams. The London-born author is Professor of Veterinary Physiology at the University of Sydney, New South Wales.

E.M.B.

Birds as Animals, Vol. L History of Birds. By JAMES FISHER. London: HutChinson. 1954. Pp. 184. 8s. 6d.

"Birds as Animals" was the title of an earlier work by Fisher. Roughly half of the subject matter considered in this book has been dealt with and re-written in the new one. A second volume, entitled "Migration and Habits" is in preparation. The present book constitutes a history of ornithology from the Old Stone Age to the present time. To quote from the descrip- tive note inside the dust cover, " the new book is the first part of an essay on the bird's place in the animal kingdom" and "the author returns to a critical synthesis of the zoology of birds." Again, "the title of the book has been deliber- ately chosen to remind the reader that ornithol- ogy is a vital part (of growing importance) of the study of the animal kingdom". The first three chapters deal, in general terms, with the growth and development of the study of birds and provide an informative introduction to more specific topics discussed in the remainder of the book. These topics include a chapter on geographical distribution from which we learn, at the outset, of the achievements of early observers in the statement that "about 90 per cent. of the birds in the world had been dis- covered and described by 1850." In discussing the history of the bird, the author tells us that "i t is now possible to see the adaptive radiation of the bird in the Cainozoic era as a phenomenon of the same calibre as any other great revolution in vertebrate evolution, like the conquest of the land by the amphibian." Later, the intricate question of speciation is discussed. The last three chapters are of particular interest to the non-specialist reader in that they afford a glimpse of less familiar lines of enquiry and the trends in contemporary investigation. These chapters are concerned with absolute and comparative

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