Jena, Gustav Fischer, 1894-1897. Two parts in two [text and atlas]. Large 4to and folio (both 35.6 x 27.6 cm). 433 pp.; 39 lithographed plates of which many tinted or in chromolithography, and all with explanatory text leaves, 86 text engravings. Uniform printed wrappers.

These are results of a zoological expedition to Australia and the Malayan Archipelago by the German zoologist and evolutionist Richard Wolfgang Semon (1859-1918). Included are eleven studies, by Braus, Emery, Hochstetter, Klaatsch, Narath, Oppel (2x), Ruge, and three by Semon himself, including Beobachtungen über die Lebensweise und Fortpflanzung der Monotremen nebst Notizen über ihre Körpertemperatur. Among the localities visited by Semon are West Java, Ambon, Thursday Island in the Torres Strait and several places in Queensland, Australia. Semon is perhaps better remembered for his mneme theory "Semon argued not only that information is encoded into memory and that there are 'memory traces' (engrams) or after-effects of stimulation that conserve the changes in the nervous system, he also contended that these changes in the brain (that is, engrams) are inherited. Semon's mneme theory fell into disrepute largely because in a Lamarckian fashion it proposed that memory units are passed from one generation to another" (vide Wikipedia). His travels are less well known, although the narrative Im australischen Busch und an den Küsten des Korallenmeeres (1896) was reprinted in 1903. This is the complete volume two, a massive work in itself. The other four volumes deal with further morphological and anatomical investigations of vertebrates and invertebrates, and are not included. All parts are very rare. Uncut. Some light chipping to the wrappers edges, otherwise a very good, complete copy. ADDED: a set of loosely issued title pages for both volumes. Cat. BM(NH), p. 1899; not in Nissen ZBI (underscoring its rarity).