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    WE, Sociobiology

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    of 5
    Born: Sociobiology Mary Jane West Eberhard The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Mar., 1976), 89-92. Stable URL: bttp//links jstor.org/sici?sic!=0033-5770% 28197603%295 1% 3A 1% 3C89% 3ABS%3E2,0,CO%3B2.N The Quarterly Review of Biology is currently published by The University of Chicago Press. ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hhup:/www.jstororg/about/terms.hml. JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at hup:/www jstor.org/jouralsuepress.himl, Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, STOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals, For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @jstor.org. hupulwww jstor.org/ Fri May 7 15:00:29 2004 Vou 51 ‘THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY Maneu 1976 NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS “The aim of this department is to give the reader brief indications of the character, the content andthe value of new books in the varius fils of Biology. In addition, thee will ocasinally ‘appear one longer ertcal review of a book of special significance. Authors and publishers of brolgical Books should Bear in mind tha THe Quaxraniy Review oF Brotoor can notice in this department on such books as come tothe office ofthe eters. AIL material fr notice inthis depariment shouldbe addesed to The Ediors, Trae Quaxreniy Review oF Biowooy Division of Biological Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, N.Y. 11704, USA. BORN: SOCIOBIOLOGY By Many Jase West Enesnat Departamento de Biologia, Universidad del Valle, Cai, Colombia and Smithonian Tropical Research Insite, Balboa, Canal Zone INGE UPON a time there was @ small community of madest scholars called natal historians, who devated thei lives ta philosophy and the contemplation of huonble plants ad animals. Wh the psage of time and the icenton of Science they began to take on new names. Some called themselves Ssematis; shes Ezlogists; and stil thes Population Biologists end Ethalogiss. Only ‘heir enemies called them natural historians. AU ofthe new sciences grew and became rich However, there was one small group without a name. ‘They went about dresed in the castff dahing of the tide sciences, and often filed to recognise each ther, even when they hurried ‘long the same paths. So they suffered grea, Sometimes they had ta Iearn to collec birds or identify ants im order to get jobs. Then one ay there roe up « man from among then. He had been called Entomologist, Ecologist, and even Biochemist, But Wat was nol enough All grew quiet as he raised his golden fen: “There shall be a new science,” he sad, “and it shal te called SOCIOBIOLOGY.” A Review of, ‘of the golden pen. Ethology and comparative psy- thology are declared obsolete and behavioral biology Sociomio.acy. The New Synths By Edward O. Wilson. The Belknap Pres of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusets. $20.00 2 697 ps ills index. 1975, Edward Osborne Wilson, the kindly bespectacled father of sociobiology, has assumed godlike powers ‘with his book. tis, the author's words, “an attempt to codify sociobiology into a branch of evolutionary biology and particularly of modern population biolo- 4." The new science is named, defined (the sy tematic study of the biological’ basis of all social Uehavior”), endowed with a set of goals (incuding the reformulation of the foundations of the social Sciences "So a to draw them into the neo-Darwinist evolutionary theory’) and given an encyclopedic the- ‘retical and factual base—all in one broad sweep 89 is seen as restructured into neurophysiology and sensory physiology onthe one hand, and socobiology and behavioral ecology on the other. The book is ‘monumental in size (697 pages, including glosary, index, and a bibliography of more than 2500 entries) and in scope, treating sodality in every conceivable {orm from slime molds to man. And iis inhestating ne (subsitle: “The New Synthesis—emphasis rine). In shor, itis enough to make any working animal behavoristecologist tremble abit with anti- pation (what treasures of information will it hold), with fear (will T be codified in? oF out), and with the athleti strain of holding its lapping five pounds at reading level ‘The book does indeed contain treasures of in- formation, and there is litle need to worry about 20, ‘THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY being colfed out, Virtually every area of biology ‘which might contribute oan understanding of social- ity is included, with tireles summaries of basic work in related fields, and in one after another of the taxa (bacteria, invertebrates, insects, Fi, Frogs, te tiles, birds, and mammals) containing species covered bby Wilson's broad usage of the word “social” (which, oddly, is never specifically defined). There are few aspects of animal behavior not fitting under the rubric fof sociobiology. Even courtship behavior, excluded bby the definitions given in the chapter on Elementary Concepts,” ends up being repeatedly dscused be- ‘case ofits involvement in such important activities as territoriality and parental care. ‘One has to marvel at the intellectual marathon i was to write this book with sustained enthusiasm and authoritativenessevenin fields suchas vertebrate endocrinology and primate ecology) only remotely ‘elated to Wilson's own sociobological specialty (caste And communication in ants). To mention just a few ‘of the numerous topical reviews that could be cited for their usefulness, there isa chapter on "Develop- ment and Modification of Socal Behavior,” showing hhow both laboratory studies of development and ‘behavioral genetics and comparative studies among different taxa can be combined in an attempt t0 understand the evolution of socal behavior: a critical review of the concept of aggressiveness, discussing its functions, ecological correlates, and physiological bases; and a summary of recent findings on the social behavior of elephants ased on stadies not heretofore widely available, Scattered throughout the text are ‘many smaller original reviews of such phenomena a8 adoption of orphans, teat order in maramals, and lek behavior ina variety of taxa, which, while present fd without fash or Fanfare, demonstrate an impees- sive breadth of research and outlook, One of the few places where Wilson's interest seemed to flag asin the surprisingly brief chapter on birds, It deals primarily only with eooperative breeding, and treats in detail only two groups, the anis (Crotophaginae) and the jays, with the incomplete 1942 work of Davis ‘om anis considered “stil oth modern and definitive” Aespite the availablity of more recent studies using marked birds eg. F. Késter, 1971, Bom. zal. Beitr, 22:4-27), Although ornithological workis extensively cited in other sections, as the author points out, this ‘does not really make up for the lack of a concise ‘overview like those given insets, primates, bats, and ‘even colonial microorganisms ‘Wilson must certainly go on record as one of biology’s most able writers and phrasesmakers. In the past he has authored, co-authored, or effectively publicized such apt and well known terms as “charac- ter displacement,” "K-" and "selection," and "pheromone." In this book a number of attractive Wikonisms make their appearance. Itsometimes takes ‘moments thought to realize that they are not always [Vous 51 matched in briliance and newness by the concepts lunderlying them, and to translate them into old- fashioned. neo-Darwinese, “Phylogenetic inertia “evolutionary pacemaker.” and “behavioral scaling” reler, respectively, 10 preadaptation (pus presuna-

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