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The reviewer lays this book down with a distinct feeling that it is representative of a very important trend in biology which perhaps has not been so definitely formulated as to have brought it clearly into consciousness.
The book is a discussion of conduct throughout the animal series and ending with man, particularly from the point of view of its efficiency; that is, its degree of success in attaining the goals aimed at. All the way along the line it is obvious that there is an immense amount of lost motion amounting to absolute failure very frequently, and all of which is considered under the general head of maladaptation. The common factor that runs through this whole matter of conduct maladaptation seems to be briefly this: Instinct is conduct consisting of a series of acts which are so fixedly related to one another that it is only necessary to start the series to have all of the acts follow in regular order. Under these circumstances it is obvious that for the instinct to function at 100 per cent efficiency the circumstances under which it functions must have a maximum advantageousness. It is equally obvious that the instinct, being laid down as if is in the pattern of response of the individual organism, will fail to function efficiently if the circumstances are materially changed. The mayfly, which is positively photothropic, swarms toward the light, and in the swarming fertilization takes place and the eggs, which are deposited upon the surface of the water, develop. Along comes man and puts up an electric light on land with no water about; the mayfly swarms about the electric light, is destroyed by thousands, and if fertilization does take place the eggs fall upon the inhospitable earth and perish. A new factor has been introduced into the situation and the instinct correspondingly falls off in efficiency.
The book is delightfully written by a dyed-in-the-wool naturalist, who tells the story simply and directly with many and apt illustrations largely