he goes along (with adequate cross-referencing) . The inevitable simplifica- 

 tions and generalisations are altogether acceptable for an introductory 

 text. My only objection to the author's style are his occasionally very long 

 and complicated sentences. 



The line drawings are simple but effective; they were all redrawn from 

 various original sources, contain much indispensable information, and have 

 good legends linking them up with the text (a slight drawback is that they 

 are not referred to in the text) . The photographic illustrations are not al- 

 ways so successful. 



3. 



V.B.EICHLER. 1978. ATLAS OF COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGY, a laboratory guide to 



invertebrate and vertebrate embryos 



Mosby, St, Louis, Mo. 202 pp., 574 figs. $ 9.95, E 7.97 (paper) 



This atlas is clearly meant to be used in conjunction with other material 

 and under constant guidance. The text is kept at an absolute minimum. 

 Meiosis, fertilisation and mitosis are illustrated by material from an in- 

 sect. As cart s , and a fish. The illustrations for invertebrate embryogenesis 

 are from material of a Pelecypod mollusc, Asterias^ Arbacia^ Amphioxus, and 

 Ciona (metamorphosis) . Vertebrate embryogenesis takes up the remaining five- 

 sixths of the book and is based on material of the lamprey, Fundulus, Rana 

 (including metamorphosis) , two reptiles, the chick, the rat (mainly gameto- 

 genesis and placenta) , the pig, and man (ten embryos and fetuses) . 



Almost all illustrations are photographic and are on the whole basically 

 very good, although one is sure that many have lost considerable detail in 

 reproduction. The use of numerals for labelling the sections, in conjunction 

 with a foldout index, is a good idea. Some parts, such as the 8-day and 11- 

 day chick embryo, are mysteriously unlabelled. The book is concluded by a 

 good glossary of selected terms. 



4. 



W.H. FREEMAN and B. BRACEGIRDLE . 1978. AN ATLAS OF EMBRYOLOGY. 3rd edit. 



Heinemann, London. X, 110 pp., 94 figs., £ 3.80 



This useful atlas is now in its fifteenth year. It is based on the prin- 

 ciple of showing (usually full-page) photographs of sections or whole mounts 

 and accompanying each by a carefully executed and labelled line drawing. 



In this new edition some good material on amphioxus (cleavage to late lar- 

 va, 16 specimens) and on (mostly early) mammalian development (11 spe^cimens) 

 has been added. The original material on the frog and the chick (67 sjpeci- 

 mens) is unchanged. (Although it is claimed that all photographs were re- 

 made, I could detect hardly any difference.) The atlas has no text. 



5. 



G.V.LOPASHOV and 0. A. HOPERSKAYA. 1979. BIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND PROBLEMS 

 OF ORGAN RECONSTITUTION (in Russian) 



Publ. House "Znanie", Moscow. New Publ. on Life,Sci. and Techn., Ser. Biol- 

 ogy no, 5. 62 pp., 13 figs,, 2 tabs, 11 Kop. (paper) 



Brief text apparently meant primarily for the educated layman; programming 

 of, cell differentiation and induction; programming of differentiation of 

 cell types; molecular-genetic aspects of the programming of differentiation; 

 transdiff erentiation; theory of cell programming; significance for reconsti- 

 tutive medicine; line drawings and diagrams; literature restricted to 7 

 Russian titles. 



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