theme of gene control that may have originated in some primitive prokaryote 

 cell ". Much in the book is of a speculative nature, but certainly all of it is 

 highly thought-provoking. 



Chapters 2 — 7 all have more or less speculative but lucidly written con- 

 cluding sections. Chapter 8 is a summary of the more theoretical aspects of 

 the problem; in its final section, entitled "Chemical messengers: the new 

 endocrinology", the author argues that all chemical substances involved in 

 homeostasis, ranging from repressors, through effectors and hormones proper, 

 to pheromones, belong to one single domain of biology. 



The book is well printed and illustrated with good drawings and diagrams. 

 It has a 22-page bibliography and is concluded by a subject index. 



26 THE TEMPO OF INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT OF 



ANIMALS AND ITS CHANGES DURING EVOLUTION 



1968 

 Editor: S. V. Emelianov Publishing House ,,Nauka" 



287 pp., 48 figs., 22 tbs. Moscow 



Contributors: Arshavsky, Baevsky, Bogoljubsky, Bogomolov, Emelianov, Koshelev, Lebe- 

 deva, Matveiev, Persov, Petskoy, Sharov, Sleptzov, Spet, Sytina, Waguin, Zusman 



This book is written in Russian and is announced only briefly. It contains 

 a series of 16 papers by Russian workers who are investigating the problem 

 of the rate of individual development in relation to the role of heterochrony 

 in evolution. All but one of the papers are morphological in character. Most 

 studies concentrate on the effects of external conditions on development, 

 particularly during artificial breeding. Three papers deal with invertebrates, 

 the remainder with various vertebrate groups. 



27 METAMORPHOSIS 



A problem in developmental biology 

 1968 

 Editors: W. Etkin and L. I. Gilbert North Holland Publ. Co., Amsterdam 

 459 pp., 98 figs., 18 tbs. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York 



Price: H.fl. 55.— 



Contents: Metamorphosis in crustaceans (J. D. Costlow, Jr.); Metamorphic changes in insects 

 (J. Whitten); Control of hormone production in insects (W. S. Herman); Biochemistry of 

 insect metamorphosis (G. R. Wyatt); Gene activities during insect metamorphosis and their 

 control by hormones (H. Kroeger); Metamorphosis in lower chordates (E. J. W. Barrington); 

 Survey of amphibian metamorphosis (J. N. Dent); Hormonal control of amphibian metamor- 

 phosis (W. Etkin); Biochemistry of amphibian metamorphosis (E. Frieden); Nature of hor- 

 mone action in amphibian metamorphosis (J. C. Kaltenbach) 



According to the editors' preface, this book is the first "single up-to-date 

 source that deals with the several aspects of metamorphosis in an integrative 

 way". It is equally well suited for students and research workers. All con- 

 tributors are outstanding authorities in their respective fields. The problems 

 of metamorphosis are discussed from the viewpoints of morphology, physio- 

 logy, endocrinology, and biochemistry. 



The chapters range in size from about 35 to about 60 pages, and are all 

 well organized. Each has its own bibliography. With few exceptions, the 

 most recent literature cited dates from 1966. The book is produced in offset 

 print. It is well illustrated with many line drawings and graphs, and a few 

 photographs. It is concluded by author and subject indexes. As far as 

 taxonomic names are concerned, no attempt at unification has been made 

 (for instance, the axolotl appears in the subject index under three different 

 names). 



323 



