species nor even, for that matter, to the mammals and man. More- 

 over, the approach is distinctly interdisciplinary, and the au- 

 thor attempts to break down the conceptual and semantic barriers 

 between the various disciplines that have been concerned with 

 this field: ethology, psychology, embryology, neuroanatomy, neu- 

 rophysiology, biochemistry, genetics. 



The review of ch.l (22 pages) places the problem In very Droad 

 perspective. Chapters 2-6 then carefully describe a long and 

 varied series of original, apparently largely unpublished inves- 

 tigations, each separate section usually being In the form of a 

 "publication" with introduction, materials and methods, results, 

 and discussion. One is amazed at the quantity as well as the 

 many-sidedness of this work, all carried out by one individual 

 or at least under his close supervision. In ch.7 (l8 pages) in- 

 terdisciplinary correlations are considered, and an integrative 

 (holistic) hypothesis is proposed. 



The book is beautifully produced and Illustrated with a wealth 

 of excellent, largely original photographs and other material. 

 It has a 43-page bibliography. 



29. 



R.M.GAZE. 1970. THE FORMATION OF NERVE CONNECTIONS, a consider- 

 ation "of neural specificity, modulation and comparable phenomena 

 Academic Press, London, etc. VII, 288 pp., II8 figs., 2 tabs., 

 author and subject indexes. 80 s. 



Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Neuromuscular connections; 3. 

 Somatic sensory connections; M. Retinotectal connections; 5. 

 Intracentral connections 



It is interesting that two new books on developmental neurol- 

 ogy should have appeared in the same year: the present one and 

 that by M.Jacobson ("Developmental neurobiology", reviewed in 

 Gen. Embryol. Inf. Serv. 1^, 1971, p. 3^3). The present book is 

 shorter and less ambitious in its alms, yet within the limits 

 the author has set himself it is comprehensive, and moreover ex- 

 ceedingly well written. The author has himself contributed 

 greatly to our understanding of the formation of neuronal con- 

 nections, and his treatment is lucid, critical, and thought-pro- 

 voking. Of particular value for developmental biologists is the 

 facr that he extensively discusses the various possible models 

 for the specification of positional information in the nervous 

 system. At the same time he is careful to stress that models may 

 be logically coherent, yet unrealistic because the premises on 

 which they are built are wrong. 



Chapter 2 largely centres around experiments on the amphibian 

 limb system, ch.3 deals with cutaneous reflexes in amphibians, 

 en. 4. with the. development and regeneration of retlno-tectal con- 

 nections In amphiDlans and fishes, while ch.5 largely deals with 

 the Integrated visual system of mammals and amphibians, the de- 

 velopment of binocular vision, and the role of function therein. 



The book is well produced and profusely and beautifully illus- 

 trated. It has a 13-page bibliography. 



R.HEBEL. 1971. ENTWICKLUNG UND STRUKTUR DER RETINA UND DES 

 TAPETUM LUCIDUM DEiJ HUNDES 



Springer., Berlin, etc. Ergebn. Anat . Entw.gesch. Bd.45, Heft 2. 

 92 pp., 27 figs., 2 tabs., subject index 



One chapter (18 pp.) deals with the development of retina and 

 tapetum lucldum In the dog: 20-day embryo, 40-day fetus, fetus 



23 



