19. 



J. E. SMITH and D. R. BERRY. 1974. AN INTRODUCTION TO BIOCHEMISTRY OF 



FUNGAL DEVELOPMENT 



Academic Press, London, etc. VIII, 326 pp., 123 figs., 22 tabs., subject index. £8.00, 



$20,75 



Contents: 1. Introduction: the conceptual basis of morphogenesis; 2. A cellular slime 

 mould: Dictyostelium discoideum; 3. A plasmodial slime mould: Physamm poly- 

 cephalum; 4. The fungal spore; 5. The vegetative state; 6. Asexual reproduction; 7. 

 Sexual reproduction; 8. Differentiation, secondary metabolism and industrial mycolo- 

 gy 



The fungi are the simplest group of eukaryotes and therefore represent an important link 

 between the unicellular state and the higher multicellular organisms. Although their 

 development has not been studied as extensively as that of other groups, they have 

 already provided a number of valuable "model systems" for developmental biology. This 

 book is therefore particularly welcome to developmental biologists who are not specialists 

 of mycology. 



The book is largely based on a series of lectures given to undergraduate and postgradu- 

 ate students. The chapters are not exhaustive reviews and are not fully documented. This 

 makes for easy reading, however. The chapter bibliographies consist of both older and 

 recent recommended Uterature, very conveniently classified. The treatment focuses on 

 those processes that ultimately give rise to visible changes in structure. 



The book is profusely illustrated with line drawings and photographs, including a 

 limited number of electron micrographs. 



20. 



R. F. WILLIAMS. 1974. THE SHOOT APEX AND LEAF GROWTH, a study in quantita- 

 tive biology 



Cambridge Univ. Press, London. VIII, 256 pp., 169 figs., 23 tabs., author and subject 

 indexes. £ 6.50, $ 18.95 



Contents: 1 . Introductory; 2. The quantitative description of growth; 3. Phyllotaxis; 4. 

 Shoot-apical systems; 5. The dynamics of leaf growth; 6. The growth of an inflores- 

 cence; 7. The growth of wheat tillers; 8. Plant growth as integration 



The contents of this book are almost entirely descriptive, even where (as in ch.5) data 

 on DNA, RNA, and proteins are provided. The book is largely based on the personal 

 research of the author and his associates, much of which is here published for the first 

 time. Most of it centres around a sophisticated method for the analysis of the growth of 

 primordia in shoot apices (the principles are set out in ch.2, the detailed methodology, 

 involving three-dimensional reconstruction, in an appendix at the end of the book). In 

 ch.8 the author suggests that the "field theory" should be modified to include mechanical 

 as well as chemical gradients. He sees the notion of mechanical constraint as especially 

 relevant to the genesis of pattern in plants. 



Ch.4 describes the shoot apices of 13 species, both mono- and dicotyledons, while ch.6 

 is devoted to the inflorescence of wheat and ch.7 to the growth of wheat tillers. 



The numerous line drawings and reconstructions are excellent and provide vivid 

 three-dimensional images of the complicated relationships in the apices studied. (The 

 introduction contains a tribute to the memory of the Australian botanist Petrie.) 



199 



