88 



SCHERING SYMPOSIUM ON MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN CONCEPTION. 1970. Edited by G. 



RASPE 



Pergamon Press, Oxford and Vieweg, Braunschweig. Advances in the Biosciences 4. 480 pp., 269 



figs. SBN 08 017546 5 (hard cover); SBN 08 017547 3 (soft cover). $ 15.00; 140 s. 



Contributors: Adams, Austin, Bedford, Bennett, Blye, Brackett, Brinster, Caldwell, Chang, 

 Dorfman, Edwards, Ericsson, Heller, Humphrey, Kirby, Koester, Lindner, Lobel, McCracken, 

 Psychoyos, Schmidt-Matthiesen, Schomberg, Schumacher, Steinberger, Williams 



This is the report of a Symposium held in Berlin in March, 1969. It was attended by close 

 to 200 investigators from the U.S.A., Britain, Germany, and several other European countries. 



The book contains the 25 research papers read at the Symposium and the discussions fol- 

 lowing them. The subjects discussed fall into three main groups: 1) sperm capacitation, the role 

 of cervical mucus, and sperm transport (8 papers); 2) egg transport, early blastocyst develop- 

 ment in vivo and in vitro, and blastocyst implantation (11 papers); and 3) endocrine aspects, 

 particularly corpus luteum function (6 papers). Some of the discussions contain additional 

 literature references and figures. A connecting thread running through the book is the appli- 

 cability of the findings reported to birth control. 



The book is produced in offset print, and in view of this could have been less expensive. 

 The reproduction of the photographs is reasonably good. The book contains curricula vitae 

 of the lecturers and an index to lecturers and participants in the discussions. 



Plant Development (general) 



Textbooks 



89 



CONTROL MECHANISMS IN PLANT DEVELOPMENT. 1970. By A. W. GALSTON and P. J. 



DAVIES 



Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ. Foundation of Developmental Biology Series. 199 pp., 



144 figs., 5 tabs., combined author and subject index. ISBN 13 171819 3, $ 6.95 (cloth). 



ISBN 13 171801 0, $ 3.95, £ 1.60 (paper) 



The approach followed in this book is unusual. This was possible because a companion 

 volume in the same series will be devoted to patterns in plan development (Steves and 

 Sussex). Therefore the present authors could omit almost all morphology and plunge into 

 biochemistry right away. The book was written for advanced students, developmental biologists 

 generally, and particularly molecular biologists. It aims at making the green plant more 

 attractive as an object of study for the latter by concisely but clearly summarizing the 

 present state of knowledge with regard to the major biochemical control mechanisms in plant 

 development and their interrelations. No attention is paid to morphogenetic factors that have 

 not yielded to chemical analysis so far. 



The chemical factors and processes discussed are, in this order: phytochrome and flowering, 

 ethylene, auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, chemical reactions to injury, and 

 senescence and abscission. Each chapter has a brief summary and a selective bibliography. 



The book is illustrated with graphs and diagrams, photographs, and good line drawings. 



90 



CROISSANCE ET DEVELOPPEMENT DES PLANTES. 2nd edition. 1969. By L. KOFLER 



Gauthier-Villars, Paris. 234 pp., 121 figs., subject index. Fr. 24 (paper) 



This is an unchanged reprinting of a book first published in 1963. Since the first edition 

 escaped our attention, we briefly review the second one here. Written for students and horti- 

 culturists its style is simple and direct, and the language non-technical. Nevertheless, it gives 

 an admirable and many-sided account of the state of developmental biology of (mainly) higher 

 plants about a decade ago (with the exception of embryogenesis). The more is it to be regret- 

 ted that the author has not seen fit to update the text. To mention an example, is there any 

 excuse not to mention, in an otherwise excellent text, the exciting recent work on single-cell 

 culture, with its important genetic implications? 



The book is produced in good offset print and is illustrated with simple but highly successful 

 line drawings. No literature references are given in the text, but there is a good bibliography 

 of books and similar reference material. Unfortunately this also does not go beyond about 1960. 



357 



