Social Behaviour in Animals : With Special Reference to Vertebrates

HIS book is not intended as an exhaustive review T of facts. Its aim is rather the presentation of a bio- logical approach to the phenomena of social behaviour. This type of approach was revived by Lorenzs pioneer studies. It is characterized by emphasis on the need for renewed and careful observation of the huge variety of social phenomena occurring in nature; by emphasis on a balanced study of the three main biological problems- function, causation, evolution; by emphasis on an appro- priate sequence of description, qualitative analysis, quanti- tative analysis; and finally by emphasis on the need for continuous re-synthesis. The character of this approach, combined with the limitations of space, have determined this books contents. Limits of space led to the omission of a great deal of de scrip- tion. Thus, Deegeners voluminous work on fhe multitude of types of animal aggregations has not been discussed. Also, the highly specialized states of social insects have not been treated in detail, since there are excellent books dealing exclusively with them.