mental basis of behavior; 25. The emergence of order in de- 

 velopment: molecular and ultrastructural aspects; 26. Pattern 

 aspects of development; Part V. Principles of development: 

 27. Summary: Basic guidelines and principles of development 



This textbook which is clearly meant for the use of advanced 

 students, is one of several recent attempts to present develop- 

 mental biology as a unified whole. Throughout the book data on 

 plants, animals, and protozoa are treated alongside, and almost 

 every developmental process of any importance is dealt with. 

 The unifying theme is that of "guidelines of development" at 

 all levels from the molecular to the organismal. 



On the whole the arrangement of chapters is logical, although 

 one could argue with the author on the desirability of treating 

 postembryonic development and regeneration at such an early 

 stage (chs.4 and 5), and of including the emergence of order 

 and pattern formation (chs.25 and 26) under special aspects 

 rather than under universal control mechanisms. The present re- 

 viewer feels more serious objections against the author's style 

 which frequently lacks didactic clarity. Important concepts are 

 often insufficiently or not at all defined. Although the treat- 

 ment is certainly not superficial, in many places the writing 

 is bound to be confusing to the student. In several areas with 

 which the reviewer is more intimately familiar he was struck by 

 major and minor inaccuracies and instances of partial misinter- 

 pretation of data. In short, the text is worth while in general 

 outline but capable of considerable improvement. 



The same judgement applies to many, though not the majority 

 of the illustrations. All figures were especially prepared for 

 this book, and most are artistically successful; however, not a 

 few are confusing in their lay-out, lettering and "arrowing", 

 and some are partially incorrect; several captions do not ex- 

 actly match the figures. The chapter bibliographies are well 

 selected and strike a good balance between older and more re- 

 cent literature (there are rather too many mistakes in the 

 spelling of foreign authors' names). The subject index is not 

 entirely adequate. The book is beautifully produced on a pleas- 

 ing format . 



2. 



J.R.TATA. 1973. METAMORPHOSIS 



Oxford Univ. Press, London, etc. Oxford Biology Readers nr.46. 



16 pp., 17 figs., 20p. (paper) 



This is a competent and up-to-date survey of carefully chosen 

 examples from a wide field where it is difficult to be selec- 

 tive. The author does not always achieve maximal lucidity: ex- 

 amples are the role of the median eminence in the frog and the 

 feed-back arrows in fig. 7. Fig. 10c could be improved. The other 

 illustrations serve their purpose well. 



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