Monographs 



8. 



J. T. BONNER. 1974. ON DEVELOPMENT, the biology of form 



Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. XII, 282 pp., 58 figs., 2 tabs., combined author 



and subject index. $ 10.00 



Contents: I. The evolutionary view of development; 2. Cycles and natural selection; 3. 

 Reproduction; 4. Inherited variation; 5. The levels of complexity; II. The molecular 

 view of development, 6. The synthesis of substances; 7. Timing; 8. The locahzation of 

 substances, 9. The control of pattern 



Reading a new book by Bonner is always a stimulating experience. Because it is mainly 

 synthetic in approach and extremely broad in scope, the present book seems admirably 

 suited to convey an awareness of the great problems of developmental biology to 

 advanced students and those standing at the beginning of a research career. For the 

 specialist and teacher perhaps the most valuable feature of the book is that it shows 

 convincingly that the reductionist and holist approaches to development (represented by the 

 molecular biologist and the "developmentalist") are not mutually exclusive if seen from 

 the evolutionary vantage point. It is therefore particularly to be hoped that the book will be 

 read by the confirmed reductionists. 



With a monograph of this kind one can of course always argue with the author about 

 what he has left out. I would take the opposite approach by pointing out how refreshing 

 it is to see a great many points illustrated with examples that are seldom encountered in 

 books on developmental biology: e.g. protozoans, algae, fungi, and even social insects. 



Since this is a book of ideas rather than facts, the references are restricted and given in 

 the form of notes. The illustrations are hkewise limited yet serve their purpose very well. 

 The book is admirably produced. 



Symposium reports 



9. 



J. FABER and W. L. M. GEILENKIRCHEN, eds. 1975. ONTWIKKELINGSBIOLOGIE 



(Developmental biology) 



Pudoc, Wageningen. Biologische Raad Reeks, 245 pp., 74 figs., 2 tabs., subject index. Dfl. 



17.50 (paper) 



This book is based on a didactic symposium held in the Hague in October 1974 and is 

 therefore particularly useful for biology teachers or for general orientation. We review it 

 here primarily for our readers in the Benelux and South Africa. Among the eight 

 contributors there were two from England and one from Western Germany, but their 

 contributions were translated into Dutch. The symposium centred around the nature and 

 processing of developmental "information" (used loosely) at various levels of organiza- 

 tion: information in the genome and the egg cortex as well as "positional" information at 

 the supracellular level, and their interplay during development. 



Apart from a brief conceptual introduction by Faber, the seven main contributions are 

 lengthy, well-illustrated reviews, some of them with long reference lists and all of them 

 entirely up to date. An effort was made to integrate them by cross-referencing. The first 

 (by Wessels) is a general discussion of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in development, 

 and sets the stage for what follows; examples are drawn mainly from the plant Kingdom. 

 The subsequent chapters can be briefly characterized as follows: the function of the 

 genome in development (Berendes); gene activity in early mammalian development, and 

 sex differentiation (Gardner); determination in early animal development (Sang); pattern 

 formation in insects (Ouweneel); genetic regulation of cell differentiation in insect 

 spermiogenesis (Hess); the transition from the vegetative to the generative phase in plants 

 (Linskens). 



The book is concluded by a glossary of some 140 terms. 



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