The Natural History of Madagascar

S. M. Goodman, J. P. Benstead (eds.). 2003. The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1709 pp. ISBN 0-226-30306-3, price (hardbound), $85.00. The mini-continent of Madagascar has been renowned as a naturalist's paradise ever since Joseph-Philibert Commerson described it as such back in 1771. Yet, at least until this volume thudded on to my desk, I would have said that in comparison with the breadth and depth of the biological riches it offers, our knowledge of its natural history still remains curiously sketchy. With The Natural History of Madagascar in front of one, however, it is possible to appreciate just how much we have learned in recent years about the island's unique flora and fauna, due in no small part to the efforts of its first editor, an ornithologist who over the past decade and a half has in-defatigably organized faunal inventories throughout the island. This ambitious book brings together, mostly at a fair level of detail, a large part of what currently is known about Madagascar's biota. In assembling contributions by a very high proportion of the biologists currently conducting active field research in the island, it is a pretty accurate reflection of the current state of the art. And while, as a result, scanning through its vast table of contents quickly reveals as much about what is not known as about what is, it is difficult not to be impressed by what has lately been achieved by a growing band of dedicated researchers from all over the world, not least from Madagascar itself. The scope of this volume is enormous. It starts out with a strangely perfunctory overview of scientific exploration in Madagascar, then continues to a rather oddly assorted chapter on Geology and Soils that brings together a series of interesting and well-informed contributions on the island's geological …