Plant-pollinator interactions: from specialization to generalization * Waser NM, Ollerton J. eds. 2006. * Chicago: Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. $45 (paperback). 488 pp.

Highly specializedpollination systems, such as figs and their wasp or orchidsthat deceive bees in trying to make them mate with their floralorgans, are intuitively appealing to most people and have, therefore,gained far more attention both in popular and scientific literaturethan the more generalized pollination systems. For a long timethe dominant view was that many, or perhaps even most, plant–pollinatorinteractions were specialized. In 1996 Waser and his colleaguestried to stir things up by writing an article in which theyargued that, in contrast to common belief, generalization waswidespread in plant–pollinator systems. Ten     

The human career: A puzzlement. Review of The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins by Richard G. Klein. Chicago,University of Chicago Press, 1989, 524 pp, $39.95, cloth

Proboscis monkeys' (Nasalis larvatus) river crossing behavior was examined as a potential behavioral response to predation threat. N. larvatus' major predator at the Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia, appeared to be the false gavial (Tomistoma schlegeli), a crocodilian. An adolescent female proboscis monkey was captured and drowned by a false gavial during this study. The monkeys crossed the river at its more narrow points, with several individuals or groups crossing simultaneously. Increased vigilance prior to crossing and leaping as far across the river as possible were also observed. Proboscis monkey groups often associate at their sleeping sites at the river's edge. A potential function of these associations may be to allow groups to synchronize their movement with other groups during river crossings.