The Living Animals of the World, Volume 1 (of 2)

The Living Animals of the World, Volume 1 (of 2) - A Popular Natural History

The welcome accorded to "The Living Races of Mankind," of which the present work is the natural extension, would be a practical encouragement, if such were needed, to treat of the Living Races of Animals in like fashion. But the interest now taken in Natural History is of a kind and calibre never previously known, and any work which presents the wonders of the Animal World in a new or clearer form may make some claim to the approval of the public. The means at the disposal of those responsible for the following pages are, by mere lapse of time, greater than those of their predecessors. Every year not only adds to the stock of knowledge of the denizens of earth and ocean, but increases the facilities for presenting their forms and {ii}surroundings pictorially. Photography applied to the illustration of the life of beasts, birds, fishes, insects, corals, and plants is at once the most attractive and the most correct form of illustration. In the following pages it will be used on a scale never equalled in any previous publication. Without straining words, it may be said that the subjects photographed have been obtained from every part of the world, many of them from the most distant islands of the Southern Ocean, the great barrier reef of Australia, the New Zealand hills, the Indian jungle, the South African veldt, and the rivers of British Columbia. Photographs of swimming fish, the flying bird, and of the leaping salmon will be reproduced as accurately as those of the large carnivora or the giant ungulates. In accordance with the example now being set by the Museum of Natural History, the living breeds of domesticated animals will also find a place. The time and expenditure employed in illustration will be equalled by the attention given to the descriptive portion of the work. The Editor will have the assistance of specialists, eminent alike in the world of science and practical discovery. Mr. F. C. Selous, for example, will deal with the African Lion and the Elephants, and other sportsmen with the big game of the Dark Continent. Mr. W. Saville-Kent, the author of "The Great Barrier Reef of Australia," will treat of the Marsupials of Australia and the Reptilia; Sir Herbert Maxwell will write on the Salmonid, and Mr. F. G. Aflalo on the Whales and other Cetacea of the deep seas; while Mr. R. Lydekker, Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. W. F. Kirby, and other specialists have kindly agreed to supervise the work. Where possible the illustrations will show the creatures in their natural surroundings, and in all cases the {iii}photographic portraits of the animals will, by the nature of things, present true and living pictures, in place of the often curiously incorrect and distorted objects, the product of illustrators' fancy rather than the record of facts, not infrequently seen in previous illustrated natural histories. It is possible that while these pages are in the press discoveries of new animals may be made, or living representatives of creatures supposed to be extinct may be discovered.[1] One band of explorers is engaged in seeking on the plains of South America for recent remains and possible survivors of the giant ground-sloths. Another expedition is engaged, in the island of Java, in an even more interesting quest. Great as is the difference between even the lowest human intelligence and the mind of the man-like apes, the likeness both in form and action of the latter to man has never failed to suggest that there may have existed, or may even still exist, a higher anthropoid ape nearer to the human being than those now known. The idea has taken shape in the term "the missing link." The phrase is misleading in itself. Such a creature would be no more a link in the descent of man than one imperfectly developed limb of a tree is a link between the other branches and the stem. But it was always possible that we might find another branch which had attained a higher type than those terminating in the gorilla or chimpanzee. Recent search seems to have discovered the remains of such a creature. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 60000
Author: Aflalo, Frederick G. (Frederick George)
Release Date: Jul 28, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Cornish, C. J. (Charles John), 1858-1906