Book Reviews

The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools and the MadPursuit of Life on Earth by Richard Conniff. New Yorkand London: W. W. Norton & Co Ltd., 2011. 463pp.Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-393-34132-4. US$17.95.

This is a bold attempt to tell the stories about almostevery naturalist of note between the last part of the17th century (when apart from medical botany, study ofnatural history was only a hobby) and the end of the19th century (by which time universities were financ-ing collecting expeditions). Everyone is here. The bookcontains names like Rumphius that will be unfamiliarto most lay readers (but who was the subject of arecent meeting at the Linnean Society) and others likeDarwin that are household names. Linnaeus featureswith a rather mixed review. On the other hand Wallaceseems to be regarded highly by the author, but thenI cannot recall reading anything bad about Wallaceexcept from his contemporary museum curators whohad a low opinion of all field biologists.

Overall the author is not very complimentary aboutany of them except Wallace and Bates, and his por-trayal of 18th and 19th century naturalists beingobsessed with finding more species than anyone elseis probably not entirely fair. Nonetheless the descrip-tions of rivalry, jealousy and sharp practice (if notactually foul play) ring true. There are comprehensivenotes to each chapter and an extensive bibliography,so you could check out the claims. Another commontheme is how often a collection of specimens, theresult of years in a hostile environment as well asbeing the naturalist’s source of future income, waslost at sea on the way home.

I found it a good read. While most biologists will befamiliar with some of these stories already there willbe very few who do not find out something that theydid not know.

BRIAN LIVINGSTONE

History & Mystery edited by Charles Nelson. London:The Society for the History of Natural History, 2011.208 pp. ISBN 978-0-901843-09-8. Available via theSHNH website at £15 (including postage) to UKresidents, £18 elsewhere.

These 200 pages comprise an anthology of queriespublished in the Society for the History of NaturalHistory newsletter since its inception in 1977. Thetradition of publishing questions from members is anold one and a section of ‘Notes and Queries’ frequentlyappeared in Victorian journals of all sorts. Today thesame service is performed by bloggers and websites,but it’s interesting to see the diversity of issues thatpeople raised in the SHNH Newsletter over the years.They range from discussion of women, novelists andeven criminals in natural history circles to booksand their dates of publication and some obscure bota-nists. There are also detailed questions about Darwin,Gosse and even how to pronounce the name of aparticular taxidermist. There is discussion of auctionsand also the question of paying 19th century importtaxes on scientific specimens, an imposition that soincensed Charles Waterton (subsequently abandonedas administratively impractical). Some questions arepretty quirky, others remain unresolved (please help!).A few of the issues led to further lines of enquiry andinteresting facts and ongoing discussion emerged. Thisis a book to be ‘dipped into’ for entertainment andinformation. I thought I might get bored after while,but the range of topics and responses was sufficient tokeep me reading page after page.

PAT MORRIS

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Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 106, 956.

© 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 106, 956956