Primate neuroscience and ethology — an enduring union? Primate Neuroethology, Michael Platt and Asif Ghazanfar Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-532659-8

The sperm whale represents one of the most remarkable mammalian evolutionary achievements. The animal is capable of diving to depths of 3,000 metres in its search for giant squid, its main prey. But the whale dives amongst an extraordinary array of creatures such as the Black Sea devil, distinctly disturbing in appearance. Females have huge teeth and a light organ on a stalk between their eyes. Males are smaller but have enormous nostrils for sniffing out a mate. Once a male finds a female, it attaches itself to its underside and remains there as a parasite, feeding from the female until needed to fertilise her eggs. Other dramatic creatures on display include the viper fish, with fangs so big they cannot fit into its mouth and instead slide up the front of its face. It completely dislocates its lower jaw to grab large fish and crustaceans. Much of the material for the exhibition has come from previous displays in Germany but one delicate addition in London is the glass crystal models of microscopic organisms. The handblown glass, described as fine as a cobweb, is on show for the first time after decades in storage. The structures were created by father and son Leopold and Rudolph Blashka. The Blashkas were a family of glass blowers from Venice who settled in Dresden in the nineteenth century. By the 1880s the museum was buying pieces from the catalogue of almost 1,000 structures offered. The pieces had a huge appeal to the Victorians who wanted to see the fantastic discoveries botanists and zoologists were making. Such was their reputation, the pair got a commission for a collection of 4,000 glass flowers for the natural history museum in Harvard, which is still one of its most popular exhibits. In London, the exhibitors hope that some of the Blashkas’ creations will go on permanent display again recognising some of the museum’s artistic objects alongside its scientific material.