• Life in the Sea
British Marine Life. By C. M. Yonge. Britain in Pictures Series. (Collins. 48. 6d.) PROFESSOR C. M. YONGE came to maturity during a period in which the preoccupation of zoologists with comparative anatomy was giving way to an ever-increasing concentration on the problems of com- parative physiology. He has been one of those who has achieved in an outstanding degree, in his technical publications, a just synthesis of the anatomical and physiological aspects of his subject, which has been primarily concerned with the feeding and digestive methods of marine invertebrates. Professor Yonge has also, from his leader- ship of the 'British Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928-9, had close personal experience of the organisation and conduct of marine biological investigations of the widest Sort. Further, his writing for the general public has been varied and considerable in amount, and has been distinguished by a characteristic charm of presentation. From a man with such an equipment we may expeCt an attractive account of British marine life without fear of disappointment.
It is not an easy thing to write a book of this description. The illustrations are taken from standard zoological works; facts are well known to every zoologist ; and the author must prforce confine his own contribution to selection and presentation. It is in this very direction, however, that Professor Yonge's ability finds one of the channels of expression most suited to it. The result is an attractive, useful and thoroughly intelligible account of British marine plants and animals in relation to the environmental conditions which control their lives. Indeed, it is a good deal more than this. Knowing well that British seas are no more than a fraction of the world's oceans, and that their biology is meaningless if isolated from that of the sea as a whole, Professor Yonge has so related the British area to its world setting that the facts which he presents can be appreciated in their due proportion. In fact, the book pro- vides a thoroughly stimulating short introduction to the science of oceanography as a whole.
Professor Yonge's success, then, is indisputable. The same cannot be said of the printers of the coloured plates, who have not given the author the support he deserves. These plates are reproduced from illustrations in well-known zoological monographs, and the distinguishing feature of many of these is the delicacy and pre- cision of their execution, which gives them a strong aesthetic as well as a zoological appeal. The reviewer has taken the trouble to compare five of Professor Yonge's eight plates with the originals, with the effect of amply confirming his first impression that the reproduction fails, except in one case, to do them any sort of justice ; delicacy, precision and a wide and .sensitive colour-range are replaced in the reproductions by a woolly texture, ind not only by an actual departure from the colours of the original, but by a much more restricted range.
T. A. STEPHENSON
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