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As our closest living relatives, monkeys and apes hold a special appeal. This natural history, written in a clear and lively fashion by two distinguished primatologists, provides a basic, fully illustrated introduction to the order of primates.

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CHOICE Review

An attractive and reasonably priced introduction to primate structure and function, fossil history, ecology, and behavior. Napier's book is readable at the college freshman level, but is not always carefully written: e.g., it is not false to consider H. sapiens ``in any way superior to other species,'' the simian shelf did not evolve for a ``purpose,'' an ecologic niche is a way of life-not a habitat, and the thumb has only two phalanges. The authors have published extensively on primates and have cited recent literature, but they have left out important work of the last decade: This reviewer found no mention of female dominance or of infanticide, although each practice has been reported as primate behavior by several authors. The photos and drawings are excellent, but one map and one diagram are too dark to be intelligible. There is a useful glossary, but it omits some of the book's technical jargon, and some definitions need refining. This is a good book that could be better with no increase in reading difficulty. Owners of The Encyclopedia of Mammals, ed. by D. Macdonald (CH, Jan '85), will find its section on primates at least as informative and up to date.-E.B. Hazard, Bemidji State University