Book reviews

Whales of the World stock after stock was systematically Polymita snails from Cuba or the Nigel Bonner reduced to commercial extinction, vast numbers of varied Philippine Blandford Press, 1989, 192 pp., HB first in the after Svend Foyn's snails. £14.95 invention of the explosive har- poon, and after 1925 in the Antarc- Tropical Landshells of the World is the first popular book on tropical This is an admirable summary of tic when another Scandinavian, Petter S0rlle, invented the slip-stem land snails since the 1940s and it the natural history of whales, dol- fills a gaping hole. Introductory phins and porpoises, by a zoologist factory ship. From start to finish the story of international whale con- overviews of each of the main tropi who is not only well qualified by his cal malacological regions are fol- long service in the but servation has been 'too little, too late'. lowed by brief systematic accounts also unlike so many scientists, has a for each region and a useful biblio- most pleasing writing style. In only Richard Fitter, Vice-President, graphy of some 1000 references, 174 well illustrated pages he has FFPS also arranged regionally. The book managed to include much unusual does not profess to be a complete information as well as being right Tropical Landshells of the guide—with some 40,000 terrest- up to date on both the behavioural World rial mollusc species in the world, and physiological adaptations of Brian Parkinson, with Jens most of which are found in the whales to their aquatic environ- Hemmen and Klaus Groh tropics, this would be almost im- ment. Thus although even an ex- Verlag Christa Hemmen, Weisbaden, possible. About 30 families are perienced human pearl diver can- Western Germany, 1987, 279 pp., DM represented and the plates illus- not hold his breath for more than 198 trate about 1000 species and sub- 2i minutes, a bottlenose whale can Although more than 1000 mollusc species. The authors stress that the stay submerged for two hours, taxonomy adopted is a comprom- thanks to various complicated species now appear on regional, national and international lists of ise between current opinions— biochemical adaptations, such as molluscan taxonomy is still ex- storing oxygen in its muscles with threatened and extinct species, this group of animals is still almost bot- tremely fluid, and although the the help of a specialized protein, specialists may not agree with myoglobin. tom of the league in terms of con- servation priorities. Their lack of some of the names in this book, for In some ways whales have become popular appeal and the dearth of the general reader such problems the archetypal animals of the mod- specific information about which are outweighed by the value of ern world. The huge size of the molluscs are threatened largely having so much information in a baleen whales, their high intelli- accounts for this. However, at last single volume. gence, their harmlessness to man, we have a book that makes a start and the brutal way in which man at resolving both these problems. But perhaps of greatest interest to has preyed upon them and exter- the Oryx readership, is the atten- minated or almost exterminated The majority of threatened mol- tion that the authors draw to the many stocks: all these factors have luscs are terrestrial landsnails. To plight of so many species. As Brian influenced the increasing number people in temperate lands, a snail Parkinson points out in his fore- of people who are appalled at the is a small, dull, inconspicuous ani- word, landsnails are among the insensitive way in which mankind mal, best trampled underfoot be- animals most vulnerable to the dis- as a whole has treated and is still fore it lays waste to the lettuce appearance of the rain forests— treating the planet. 'Save the seedlings. Yet the great rain forests their powers of dispersal are ex- Whales' has become a classic of the world are home to thousands tremely limited, and their life his- slogan of the environmental of beautiful snails, the shells of tories are usually finely attuned to movement. which rival any marine mollusc in the particular microclimate within colour, pattern and sculpture. The their patch of forest. The regional Nigel Bonner most percipiently de- 77 plates in Brian Parkinson's overview sections make depres- scribes the rake's progress by book, most of them photographed sing reading '. . . . Unfortunately, which the International by Chris Prior, provide a stunning many of these interesting snails Commission, set up to manage display of their variety and jewel- have now gone the way of the whale stocks in order to safeguard like brilliance. The famous Manus Dodo, as nearly all the ebony the whaling industry, was instead Island green snail is perhaps fami- forests that once covered the island used by the short-sighted whalers liar to some people, as a result, un- have been cleared to make way for to ensure the destruction of the fortunately, of its popularity in sugar cane.' This refers of course to stocks and the suicide of their own trade. Fewer people will be familiar Mauritius, and similar stories are industry. From the 1860s onwards with the small, colourfully striped told about the Philippines, Mada- Book reviews 229

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.226, on 26 Sep 2021 at 02:43:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605300023073