It is a privilege to be asked and a pleasurable duty for me to write the foreword of this book. The conservation and wise utilisation of the humid tropical forests, a unique biome, are matters of great concern and importance to millions living within and around these forests and, perhaps, less directly, to the totality of mankind. These forests provide many essential products and services for mankind. The list is lengthy and need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that there are not many aspects of human activity which do not utilise some of these products, services or derivatives therefrom. Yet it is the view of those most closely associated with the study of these forests that what is known is but a minuscule portion of whatthere is to know. The products and services now utilised, are perhaps some infinitesimal part of the full potential. All over the tropical world, however, these forests are being destroyed. At first, slowly, but now surely gathering tempo. This is true also of Ghana. Tracts offorest land are converted to other uses, often ephemeral and not sustained. Irreversible changes take place in our environment. The gains are shortlived, the losses unobtrusively accumulate and stay forever. The accelerating rate of deforestation, in the face of our relatively scanty knowledge of this biome, is indeed a sad reflection of the state of human affairs. It is in this setting that one welcomes this book by Messrs. J. B. Hall and M. D. Swaine.

An exhaustive study of Claudian's unfinished mythological epic, with a text, apparatus criticus, and commentary. The long introduction begins with a catalogue of manuscripts; and this leads to an investigation into the manuscript tradition and the history of the poem's transmission. Dr Hall then surveys the most important printed editions of the poem. He examines various theories of dating and discusses the sources of the story. He concludes the introduction with a brief critical assessment of the form and style of the poem. Dr Hall establishes his text after an examination of all the extant manuscripts. The apparatus, though very full, is selective in that it records readings of younger manuscripts only when they offer something new. It also ignores trifling corruptions. The commentary is similarly selective. In general, it discusses everything relevant to the establishing of the text and ignores points of purely mythological and literary interest.