Zoologist

“ A zoologist who entertains such an opinion would do well to devote himself to the study of some one genus of mammalia, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bear, horse, ox, or deer; and after collecting all the materials he can get together respecting the extinct and Recent species, decide for himself whether the present state of science justifies his assuming that the chain could never have been continuous, the number of the missing links being so great. ”

“ Scudder alone will not fail to comprehend that even this portly volume is but a digest of the ancient history of animal life.
An Elementary Course of Practical Zoology. By the late T. Jeffery Parker, D.Sc, F.R.S., and W.N. Parker, Ph.D.⁠Macmillan & Co., Limited. However much in our daily life we may somewhat avoid the too practical man, there can be little doubt we want more practical zoologists. The average naturalist to-day is perhaps concerned overmuch with the outsides of animals, and a very large proportion indeed of conclusions and theories are based on animal appearances. ”

“ Zoologists who feel an interest in their own species, and would study some of the early factors which have served to mould the British race, will find this little book very helpful, and it is one that was much needed. ”

“ In spite of the rapid progress which the science of zoology has made during the last twenty years, the study of living mammals in captivity remains a comparatively neglected branch of natural history, being almost entirely left to the learned members of zoological societies. The private individuals who have systematically taken up this most interesting work may almost be enumerated on the fingers of one hand—this neglect of so fascinating a pursuit being all the more remarkable considering the activity displayed by naturalists in other departments of the animal world. ”

“ We cannot further pursue a subject which not only appertains to Anthropology, but also to the general zoologist, altogether relating to our British fauna, and affording many side lights to the actual status of our animal life of to-day, man included. ”

“ But the zoologist has still much to learn of the natural attitudes and physiognomy of many living creatures, which on more than one occasion artists have created from "stuffed specimens," and which photography applied to living animals is now beginning to reveal. ”

“ Any study of animals and their life, that is, of zoology, may include all or any of these parts of zoology. Most zoologists do, indeed, devote their principal attention to some one group of facts about animals and are accordingly spoken of as anatomists, or physiologists, systematists, and so on. But such a specialization of study should be made only after the zoologist has acquired a knowledge of the principal or fundamental facts in all the other branches of zoology. ”

“ It is of importance to zoologists to be reminded or informed in what institution or private museum the collections made by travelling and home naturalists are deposited; it is of even greater importance to tabulate the principal additions made to zoological science by such collections. ”

“ Our "Notes and Queries" afford a good index to the animals which are most observed by our readers and contributors; but we still hope, as is our annual custom, that these neglected orders may receive more attention. We do not ask contributors to neglect or go beyond their own subject, but they would confer a service to zoology by enlisting any students and observers of invertebrates—especially marine—with whom they might come in contact as correspondents to 'The Zoologist,' and thus make the Journal still more recognized as the record for zoological observations. ”

“ The results no one can attempt to predict; but it is clearly the duty, as it must be the desire, of all zoologists and well-wishers to Zoology to aid this rapid advance. I would, therefore, with the utmost respect to my supporters, earnestly request them in every case to consider beforehand whether the contributions they may be intending to forward to this journal are such as will promote the progress of the study, and to satisfy themselves that this is so ere they despatch their communications. ”

“ If he turns his attention to fossil animals, he is a palaeontologist. If his mind is more particularly directed to the specific description, discrimination, classification, and distribution of animals, he is termed a zoologist.
For the purpose of the present discourse, however, I shall recognise none of these titles save the last, which I shall employ as the equivalent of botanist, and I shall use the term zoology as denoting the whole doctrine of animal life, in contradistinction to botany, which signifies the whole doctrine of vegetable life. ”

“ And as a corollary, the plan of the book is "to begin with the most highly specialized families, genera, and species, and gradually work down to the most generalized forms."
The Syntomidæ, as treated in this volume, number 1184 actually described species, of which a very large proportion indeed is figured, generic characters pourtrayed, and full synonymy given. The last does not represent the mere useless occupation of a specialist as some theoretical writers incline to stigmatize. A zoologist is supposed to know the animal kingdom and its members under one and not various names. ”

“ The outdoor naturalist may, if he bear in mind how much there is yet unknown or uncertain as to the real history and belongings of primitive Man, not unreasonably expect to find something that may clear up one or other of these doubtful questions. In any case, the study and training of the zoologist will eminently fit him for such an undertaking, for it is upon zoological principles and by zoological methods that such questions can most properly be determined. ”

“ The philosophical zoologist reflects on the adaptations of the natural organs, and knowing the very peculiar formation of the anterior extremities of the feline family—so well contrived for clutching and tearing a prey, so useless for every other kind of prehension—he cannot endure the idea of one of these{332} animals being supposed to hold a weapon only adapted to the hand of man. ”

“ The zoologist is perhaps even more indebted to the invention. The habits, not only of the fishes, but of the mollusca, can be accurately studied under natural conditions, and many important facts of their history ascertained and illustrated. ”

“ It is not infrequent to see a popular zoological generaliser considered as possessing the technical knowledge of a zoologist, while as often a specialist who indulges in the philosophical discussion of his subject is looked upon chiefly as a man of views and theories. Prof. Cope combined both qualities. ”

“ The Insecta have their own special Magazines, with which we have no desire to compete, but the natural history of insects cannot, and will not, be considered as a foreign subject to the aim and scope of 'The Zoologist.' The annals of Early Man in Britain have been commenced, and will be continued, while we confidently believe that the subject will increase in interest and detail. ”

“ Evolution has received its strongest credentials from Zoology, and Evolution is now a force recognized as much in the life of the city as in that of the fields. We can realize the past when the zoologist would be considered a "crank"; we well understand the modern equivalent of estimating the science as a "hobby"; but it only remains for zoologists to render it one of the factors in assisting to explain the mysteries of our own existence; and this may perhaps be best achieved by the bionomical method of 'The Zoologist.'
CONTENTS.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. ”

“ When the zoologist speaks of the "creation" of a new species, "he in no way means that the latter has arisen from the dust, rather than from a pre-existing animal whose mode of organisation was different ”

“ If, however, facts are made more philosophical by generalization, it is clear that all speculation must and should depend on facts, and it is expected that 'The Zoologist' will in the future, as it has done in the past, prove a storehouse of the same, a journal worthy of the observations that immortalized Gilbert White and canonized Richard Jefferies. ”

“ Therefore I venture to hope that, as the pages of the 'Zoologist' have been so courteously opened to us for the discussion and interchange of ideas and methods in connection with the preservation of the various members of the animal world in its broadest sense, there will be no lack of contributors to the matter in hand. In this, as in most things, an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory; and to a beginner I would say, have a few lessons from a careful first-class man, and you will learn more than by reading the best book on the subject in existence. ”

“ I have to thank the Editor of 'The Zoologist' for giving me the privilege of addressing his readers on "Man." He has himself shown, beyond controversy, how fitting the subject of Man is for the pages of this Journal. A zoology which omitted from its purview the highest and most interesting of all animals would indeed be incomplete. ”

“ Of course there is no necessity for the naturalist to be a sportsman, though every field naturalist has some of the spirit and ardour that pertain to that pursuit; but there is every reason for the sportsman to be—as he often is—an observant naturalist, and his opportunities are great. To readers of 'The Zoologist' the principal interest will be found in the contribution by Mr. Macpherson, who in delightful phraseology that recalls the scenes among which the Red-deer is found, gives us a local narrative of the life of the animal. ”

“ In 'The Zoologist' (1863, p. 8785) there is a record of these larvæ "forming their cocoons upon those of their predecessors." In one corner of a box there were no fewer than six clustered together.—Ed.]
ANIMAL SENSE PERCEPTIONS.
By this mail I am sending two specimens (male and female) of a bug which was too common in every garden in Johannesburg last summer, and which is doubtless well known to you. [1] In 'The Zoologist' (ante, p. 161) is an interesting article by Mr. Distant, under the heading "Biological Suggestions." ”

“ The study of these Remains presents to the Zoologist a large amount of extinct species and genera, bearing important relations to existing forms of animals and vegetables, and often supplying links that had hitherto appeared deficient, in the great chain whereby all animated beings are held together in a series of near and gradual connexions. ”

“ When we turn to the many classes of animals still practically ignored in our pages, we are reminded of the yet unexplored areas in animal bionomics which it is the self-constituted province of 'The Zoologist' to explore. ”

“ The contemplated Index- Volume of the 'Zoological Record,' in order to increase its usefulness, will include names omitted from Scudder's list, and from the volumes of the 'Zoological Record.' Thus zoologists may have at their disposal (in the 'Nomenclator Zoologicus' and the new Index together) a complete list of all the names of genera and subgenera used in zoology up to the end of 1900. ”

“ Concerning the present attitude of zoologists, Prof. MacBride writes:—
"They all recognize a certain number of phyla. Each phylum includes a group of animals about whose relation to each other no one entertains a doubt. Each zoologist, however, has his own idea as to the relationship which the various phyla bear to each other. ”

“ NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
Bird Watching. By Edmund Selous.⁠J.M. Dent & Co. Readers of 'The Zoologist' require no introduction to Mr. Selous. He practically inaugurated a new method of field observation by his "Observational Diary of the Habits of Nightjars," &c., in our volume for 1899. This paper is not included in the volume under notice, but it contains a wealth of information relating to other birds which is in the truest sense original. The time is now fast approaching when ornithological field work—in this country—will no longer be conducted only with the gun. ”

“ Stanley Lewis's note in the October issue of 'The Zoologist,' there is at times an undoubted tendency on the part of sundry birds to appropriate for breeding purposes nests to which they have no rightful claim, though I do not say that such tendency is possessed by very many species, nor that it is illustrated with undue frequency. ”

“ In conclusion, I need only say that my best efforts shall be devoted to the advancement of the study which all zoologists have at heart, and, with the assistance of my contributors, I doubt not that that advancement will be real. ”

“ The zoologist has therefore an opportunity offered to him of research for the discovery of facts that will throw light on a number of unsolved problems. The missing links leading up to Pithecanthropus, and from him to the pre-palæolithic peoples; the rude workmanship of these latter; the remains of palæolithic Man, and the links between him and neolithic Man, are all subjects upon which research may some day be rewarded by important discoveries. ”

“ Cope, of Philadelphia, which took place on April 12th, Biology in America has sustained its greatest loss since the decease of Agassiz, and as zoologist, as well as both geologist and palaeontologist, his life work demands recognition wherever zoology is a cultivated science and pursuit. ”

“ The completion of another volume of 'The Zoologist' shows no diminution in the ranks of students of our British Fauna. The numbers of our contributors are practically an exact equivalent of those who produced the previous volume. Some we shall not hear from again, and we cannot help recurring to the loss of our old and valued contributor—John Cordeaux. ”