New York, London: Columbia university press, 1974. — 660 pp.At a time when insular biotas are, in many respects, little known beyond the floristic and faunistic level, yet when a number of these same biotas are endangered, apology is not necessary for presentation of materials that could be called "natural history." The material in this book will reveal not how much is known but how very many interesting questions remain to be asked and answered, largely by field studies.
Past literature is covered, directly and indirectly, but the emphasis is on recent findings. There is little value in republishing or attempting to summarize fine works such as David Lack's Darwin s finches—such books and papers speak for themselves. I have attempted to present new material and new syntheses, or stimulating comparisons, that have not to any great degree appeared previously in book form. At the time I wrote Island life* I had made observations on islands but, aside from anatomical studies, had not published data relevant to concepts of evolution on islands. I attempted to supply supporting data for some ideas in a series of five papers, published under the somewhat cumbersome series title, "The Biota of Long-distance Dispersal."
Interest in those five papers suggested to me that, instead of continuing the series, I should present the material in book form, augmented by new materials. The content of the papers is represented—in revised, expanded, updated, and, I hope, improved form—in chapters 1, 2, 11, and 13. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction or precis of my concepts of the natural history of islands. Aside from those four chapters, the content of this book represents original material. I have deliberately attempted as far as possible to avoid, both in content and in illustration, duplication of material presented in Island life; Hawaii, a natural history; * or various papers I have written dealing with anatomical aspects of insular plants. Exhaustive citation of literature is not attempted; rather, key papers with good citations are mentioned. Sources of literature on insular plants and animals are extraordinarily diverse, and readers will, I hope, forgive me if certain quite worthy papers have been overlooked.
This book obviously has a bias somewhat more in favor of botany than zoology; this reflects my training but is also capable of rationalization on the basis that zoologists have studied insular patterns in a more conspicuous way than botanists.
For help during my field work and for other assistance, acknowledgment is due a great number of individuals. I have listed them in my earlier books and papers, and rather than reprint a long list of names, I wish to thank again those whom I have previously acknowledged. Those who have made contributions to this book, and whom I have not previously mentioned, include Jose Cuatrecasas, from whose negatives I printed the photographs of paramo plants in chapter 14. The bird, plant, and insect drawings in chapters 4, 8, 12, and 14 are the work of Michael J. Cole. Photographs have also been contributed by Mrs. Evelyn Humphreys and Alex George, as credit lines indicate, in chapter 8. The remaining drawings and photographs are my work. Identification of New Guinean alpine plants was provided by Pieter van Royen. Specimens documenting my photographs presented here are located at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California. I am responsible if there are misidentifica-tions or errors in nomenclature. I have deliberately omitted author citations on binomials because these are available in the taxonomic works I cite.
