BOOK REVIEWS

Primate Behavior. Edited by IRVEN DEVORE. Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1965). Price $10.00 and $7.50. Our present knowledge of bird behaviour owes much

to the impetus provided b y intensive field studies such as those carried out by Howard, Huxley, Lack and Nice during the pre-1945 era. The ethology of primates has lagged about twenty years behind that of birds. Until recently their behaviour was known only in the context of laboratory experiments of limited scope: knowledge of their behaviour in the field depended almost entirely on anecdotes and travellers' tales. During the last decade, however, detailed studies of a number of species in their natural habitats have been made, and these have provided both the hard data and the broad perspectives which are necessary before an experimental analysis of behaviour can be fully fertile. In addition, this work is of considerable importance for anthropologists, sociol- ogists, ecologists and others whose fields overlap with 'primatology'.

Primate Behavior makes available the principle results of these studies within one cover, integrated in part as a result of a prolonged conference of field workers on sub- human primates. It contains chapters on five species or species groups of monkeys (baboons, K.R.L. Hall and DeVore; rhesus monkeys, Southwick, Beg, Siddiqi & Koford; bonnet macaque, Simonds; langur, Jay; and howler monkeys, C. R. Carpenter); one chapter on the lemurs of Madagascar (Petter); and chapters on two species of apes (mountain gorilla, Schaller; chimpanzee, Goodall (van Lawick), V. and F. Reynolds). In addition there are comparative chapters on Reproductive cycles (Lancaster & Lee), Social development (Mason) and Communication (Marler, Bastian).

The book thus contains most of the basic socio- ecological data on primates at present available, the only major gap being the recent Japanese work. In each case the available information on such topics as group size and structure, individual movements, food and feeding habits, breeding and infant development are presented. On the whole detailed descriptions of species-character- istic patterns of behaviour take second place to the life- history and ecological data, though several of the studies provide information on aggressive, social and sexual behaviour and on the signals used in intra-specific com- munication.

The most immediate result of this book must surely be the removal of a number of popular misconceptions. First, generalizations about the behaviour of primates are almost inevitably either inaccurate or trite: even though only a handful of species has been studied in detail we are beginning to get an indication of their diversity. Even within one species, group size, structure and composition may differ from one area to another, and even with the time of day. Of particular interest are the data on intra-species aggression: the fashionable practice of prefacing articles on aggression in man with generalizations about sub-human primates which em- phasize, according to the author's political predelictions, either the rarity or the frequency of aggressive en- counters in nature, will no longer be possible in the face of the hard facts here available. Second, the almost sacred story, dating from Zuckerman's studies in the early thirties, that the cohesive force in primate societies is an all-the-year-round interest in sex, is no longer tenable. Many and perhaps most primates show seasonal changes

in sexual behaviour, and social groups remain stable in the absence of sex. Third, to select but one more point the definition of man as a tool-using animal is also passd: chimpanzees both use and make tools.

In the young science of primatology, there is a ten- dency to emphasize the special problems which the analysis of primate behaviour presents. The studies in this book provide substantial support for this view. It is not only that many primates live in remote places: the stereotyped patterns of behaviour, which provide a convenient starting point for the study of sub-mammalian ~pecies, are at least less conspicuous in primates, and their behaviour shows an individual idiosyncracy and adaptiveness which makes generalization difficult. At the same time, it would be as well that primatology should not become too isolated a sphere. Marler's chapter on social comnmnication ably demonstrates the profit with which ornithological techniques and principles can be applied to primates. As another example, Mason uses an arousal concept derived from experimental psychology to inter- pret many aspects of social behaviour-- though here the theoretical basis is perhaps a little controversial. It seems possible, in addition that something could have been gained from a glance at the more sophisticated orni- thological work on dominance: one after another of the authors in this book struggles with the concept, saying that it can be assessed in a number of ways, but apolog- izing that the assessments don' t always agree, and yet referring to dominance as though it had substantive properties of its own. Clearly there is need for specialist primatologists, and this book shows how the lessons learnt in older disciplines can profitably be applied in their work.

It goes without saying that Primate Behavior will be a classic book of reference, and a milestone in the history of primatology. It wilt also have a special importance in providing primatologists with an opportunity to think 'Where do we go from here?'

R, A. HINDE

Osmotic and Ionic Regulation in Animals. By W. T. W. POTTS • GWYNETH PARRY. Oxford: Pergamon Press (1964). Price 60s. In the present age of multiplication of journals,

societies and symposia it seems to be becoming increasing- ly difficult to prepare comprehensive texts by an in- dividual author or by a small team writing in unison. This monograph is a notable exception and covers virtu- ally the whole field in what is apparently an up-to-date manner without multiplicity of style and approach. It is intended for research workers and for final year students specializing in some branch of zoology or physiology, and as such should be widely read.

The presentation is clear and the subject matter is clearly set out from the standpoint of ready reference. Although the authors have avoided the 'catalogue' approach, it is easy to check on the information con- cerning individual species or groups.

The literature prior to Krogh's Osmoregulation in Aquatic Animals, published in 1938 and regarded as still being invaluable, is dealt with selectively. It is of interest that the particular case of the seal (unhappily indexed as a Cetacean !) seems to have escaped post-war study.

A, N, WORDEN

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