Abstract
THIS book of most beautiful photographs cannot fail to delight. To the biologist it is fascinating, and to those with only a superficial interest in natural history, or little appreciation of natural beauty, it is a revelation. From such a collection it is difficult to select individual pictures for special mention. The most dramatic are the series showing a Portuguese man-of-war capturing and feeding upon a wrasse, and that showing a cuttle-fish securing a prawn after a first attempt successfully dodged by the prospective victim. But the author, is not content with the dramatic only, and follows up the studies of Physalia with an excellent photomicrograph of nematocysts discharged and undischarged, and an enlarged view of the gastrozooids digesting the fish. No less striking are the studies of the strobilation and release of medusae by the scyphistoma of Aurelia. Some of the most beautiful pictures are those of semi-transparent animals, where the author has been highly successful in showing the translucency of sea-anemones, alcyonarians, prawns, ascidians and larval forms. The text, avoiding technicalities and Latin names, gives a clear and accurate account of the animals portrayed in the plates. A short chapter deals with dredging and trawling ; and any biologist who has worked at Plymouth during the last half-century will recognize with pleasure the characteristic portrait in Plate 25. From this author we expect outstanding pictures, and we are not disappointed.
They Live in the Sea
Douglas P.
Wilson
By. Pp. 128 (90 plates). (London and Glasgow: Wm. Collins, Sons and Co., Ltd., 1947.) 12s. 6d. net.
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MATTHEWS, L. They Live in the Sea. Nature 161, 40 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161040b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161040b0