PREFACE and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This monograph results from my inability to follow instructions. Professor Thomas A. Sebeok kindly asked me to provide the chapter on optical communication for his new volume How Animals Communicate (Sebeok, 1977), but my manuscript exceeded the assignment in both length and scope. Indiana University Press then invited me to extract the empirical review for Sebeok’s book (see Hailman, 1977a) and formulate the more wide-ranging material into a monograph devoted to optical signals. Hence the book in hand.

I have tried to strike a balance between a self-contained monograph and one that did not repeat the substance of my chapter in Sebeok’s book. The compromise results in two factors that readers who are ethologists may find peculiar: some explanations of quite elementary ethological notions are contained herein, yet some traditional and important topics are treated only briefly. The first factor results from the attempt to make the monograph intelligible to readers not trained in ethology, and the second from the attempt to avoid overlap with the chapter, to be published nearly simultaneously. Frequent reference to the chapter helps preserve the continuity.

This whole endeavor would not have been possible without the aid and abetting of many individuals, who in no way bear responsibility for any outrages contained herein. The prime mover was Peter Marler, who suggested that I write the chapter for How Animals Communicate, thus sueceeding his forerunner in Sebeok^’s (1968) earlier Animal Communication. Thomas Sebeok himself was a constant source of support for both the chapter and this monograph that grew from it, and has kindly contributed some words in the fore. John Gallman, Director of Indiana University Press, from his initial invitation to the last throes of production, kept close touch with general progress, while John Vint and particularly Natalie Wrubel of the Press struggled with the details.

Those who contributed to the manuscript, directly or indirectly, were many. Not only those whose works are specifically cited, but many others whose writings have influenced my thinking, share in the thanks. Some of my ideas were discussed specifically with Wolfgang M. Schleidt and Gordon R. Stephenson; my colleagues Jeffrey R. Baylis and Warren P. Porter were particularly useful sounding boards, who also made special efforts to provide examples and data to secure certain points. Anywhere from pieces to substantial chunks of the manuscript were read by Lee McGeorge, Daniel Rubenstein, Robert G. Jaeger, Scott R. Robinson, Peter H. Klopfer and Alan H. Brush. I was fortunate enough to have no fewer than five persons who suffered through the entire manuscript at one stage or another: to Jeff Baylis, previously mentioned, Steve Witkin, Lincoln Fairchild, Edward H. Burtt, Jr. and Timothy D. Johnston both I and the readers are grateful, whether the latter realize it or not.

Technical production also involved many persons to whom I owe thanks. The figures were all executed by Cheryle Hughes, who translated figures from the literature, my scrawled graphs, my photographs and even my field sketches into clear, consistently styled and charming illustrations. The photographic preparation of figures for publication was competently handled by Claudia Lipke, under the watchful eye of Don Chandler. The important and often overlooked task of indexing was performed by Scott and Karen Robinson, and by my wife, Liz, who also proofread the entire text and helped in ways too numerous to document. Indeed my entire family deserves praise for surviving nearly a year of weekends in which I spent almost every waking moment at the typewriter instead of doing something productive. Despite the pressures of time, Jay Parker, who typed the camera-ready manuscript for photo-offset, might have done a better job.

J.P.H.

Village of Shorewood Hills

March 1977