Hardback with dustjacket. 72 pages. First edition 1971. Bookseller stamp, a name in ink and cellotape stains on the inside cover, but otherwise good second-hand condition.

The seashores of New Zealand have so rich a wealth of plants and animals that getting to know them is a puzzling and difficult task. Indeed, much still remains to be done before all our shore organisms are scientifically catalogued. A full understanding of how many of them live and their reactions one to the other will require the combined efforts of many workers and observers in the years ahead.

The present work cannot supply all the answers, but its colour illustrations exemplify all the main groups commonly found on the shore, and will help the reader to identify many of them. The text tells of the way of life and the habitat of the organisms illustrated. Pictures and text combined will help the student of natural history or the holiday beach-comber to recognise and understand many of the sea creatures exposed between tidemarks, as well as many of the strange inhabitants of deeper waters whose remains wash ashore on the strandlines.

With most illustrations go the common and scientific names of the species, their habitats and salient characteristics. The colour sketches are not only beautiful but also scientifically accurate, produced by an artist who is an expert in working to the exacting standards of biologists. The text is by the Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, himself a specialist in a range of sea life from squids to deep-sea shellfish.

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