al molecules during development; 6. Genetic Information and the 



programming of development 



This elementary textbook bears a rather pretentious title. In 

 fact the book is a fairly straightforward account of some of the 

 areas of embryology in which the author feels significant pro- 

 gress has been made in recent years. The approach is highly se- 

 lective and focusses mostly on problems of cellular interaction 

 and differentiation in animal embryos. A certain amount of clas- 

 sical experimental embryology is included, but only as a back- 

 ground for the discussion of biochemical and molecular-biological 

 data. The problems of true morphogenesis are only touched upon 

 occasionally, while those of pattern formation are not treated at 

 all. The author is one of those who feel that DNA and RNA will 

 provide all the keys to the mystery of development. 



While this is of course a perfectly valid point of view, it is 

 somewhat limited, and moreover the author's style and use of 

 terminology are sometimes unclear. An example of this is the 

 muddled discussion of induction mechanisms at the end of ch.4. 

 Some statements are fully documented with literature references 

 while others are not. The illustrative material is often not 

 well integrated with the text, and several of the figure cap- 

 tions are either incomplete or contain unexplained matter, so 

 that the student who is not already at home in the field will be 

 puzzled. 



The book is attractively produced. It has a bibliography of 

 over 300 titles which also contains books and review articles 

 not cited in the text. These would have been better placed sepa- 

 rately. The index is rather incomplete and the arbitrary inclu- 

 sion of a few authors' names is queer. 



4. 



Et. WOLFF. 1971. EXPERIMENTELLE EMBRYOLOGIE, Entwicklungsmechanik, 



translated from the French 



Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart. Allgemeine Biologie Band 3. XII, 



192 pp., 150 figs., combined author and subject index. DM 26.00 



(paper) 



Contents: I. Ziele und Methoden; II. Die ersten Determinatio- 

 nen; III. Die embryonale Regulation; IV. Morphogenetlsche Fel- 

 der und Gradienten; V. Die sexuelle Dif ferenzierung; VI. Die 

 Regeneration; VII. Zellkerntransplantationen und heterogene 

 Befruchtungen; VIII. Das Wachstum 



This is the German translation of a part of Grasse's "Biologie 

 generale" published in 1966. It is a solid text which presents 

 the principles of classical experimental embryology concisely 

 but with didactic clarity. However, in 1972 the book already 

 makes a somewhat old-fashioned impression because so many excit- 

 ing things have happened since I966, particularly in the field 

 of selective gene activation, which is almost entirely disre- 

 garded. If one looks for a text which integrates classical and 

 significant modern findings, this is not the book of choice. Par- 

 ticularly the bibliography (compiled by the translator because 

 the original book did not have one) is characterized Dy a lack 

 of recent titles. . ^ a 



The translation is very good. The book is well produced and 

 the numerous good Illustrations of the original are well repro- 

 duced . 



11 



