22 ASPECTS OF NEURAL ONTOGENY 



1968 



By A. F. W. Hughes Logos Press 



249 pp., 90 figs., 1 tb. Academic Press 



New York - London 

 Price: $ 12.50 



This is the first book on neuro-embryology after more than 40 years. As stated 

 by the author in his introduction, its central theme is the interaction between the 

 nervous system and peripheral organs during development, the attention being 

 concentrated on the tetrapod limb. The author, who has worked in this field for 

 many years, has taken the opportunity of presenting a more continous account 

 of his own researches than has so far been published. 



The book is in four chapters, followed by a brief Outlook. Chapter I describes 

 the development of the neuron, and reflects the history of this field of invest- 

 igation. Chapter II is concerned with the innervation of the tetrapod limb. 

 Chapter III first discusses the influence of the periphery on central nervous 

 development, and then proceeds to analyse the converse influences. Attention is 

 focused successively on sense organs, the regeneration of appendages, and 

 finally the relationships between nerves and muscles. Chapter IV is devoted to 

 the ontogeny of behaviour. In the last section of this chapter special consider- 

 ation is given to such subjects as the effects of drugs (mainly strychnine), the 

 theories of resonance and myotypic specification, selective synaptic contact, 

 central co-ordination patterns, and sensory relationships. 



The book is illustrated with line drawings of high quality. It is concluded by 

 author and subject indexes. The point of including in the author index the names 

 of authors who only figure in their quality of editors of books cited is obscure. 



23 THE DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR DEVELOPMENT 



An epigenetic view 



1967 



By Zing-yang Kuo Random House, Inc. 



252 pp. New York 



(paper-bound) Price: $ 2.45 



The author of this book has been active in the field of the study of animal 

 behaviour and its developmental aspects since 1918, first in the U.S.A., later in 

 China and Hong Kong. The major purpose of the book is "a revision of the most 

 radical Watsonian behaviorism (of the early 1920's) by bringing it up to date 

 and eliminating its early shortcomings". The author defines behavioral epigenesis 

 as "a continuous developmental process from fertilization through birth to death, 

 involving proliferation, diversification, and modification of behavior patterns 

 both in space and in time, as a result of the continuous dynamic exchange of 

 energy between the developing organism and its environment, endogeneous and 

 exogeneous". 



The book clearly shows the mark of the author's personal views and expe- 

 rience, as is evident in the stress placed on the extreme variability and complexity 

 of behavioral patterns and on the presence of hitherto unexpected behavioral 

 potentials, even in well-studied species, as well as in his very sceptical attitude 



24 



