The Littoral Fauna of Great Britain

Abstract

A COUPLE of generations ago, the science of zoology ran a serious risk of being embedded in paraffin. This calamity was happily averted, and the young naturalist hies again to the seashore; but the first line of Dr. N. B. Eales's preface suggests that the poisonous breath of the examiner follows him even there. It may be so; but the fresh air, and the spirit of Edward Forbes and Sir John Graham Dalyell cleanse and sanctify the place, and keep it as sweet as ever. In Edward Forbes's day and for years afterwards, we led the way in the literature of natural history. Forbes and Hanley, Yarrell's “Birds” and Gould's, the early British Museum catalogues, the Ray Society volumes and the Challenger Reports had no rivals. Alas, it is not so now. We might have undertaken the new “Systema Naturæ”, but Berlin took the “Tierreich” in hand. There is a “Fauna of the North Sea”, but it is written in German; there is an excellent “Faune de France”, but none of the British seas.

The Littoral Fauna of Great Britain

A Handbook for Collectors. By Dr. N. B. Eales. Pp. xvii + 302 + 25 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1939.) 12s. 6d. net.