thorax separated from the abdomen at various different levels; 

 Driesch's views on the subject are refuted - emphasis on dedif- 

 ferentiation and dedetermination; numerous beautiful drawings 

 and light micrographs. 



63. 



A.L.BURNETT, ed. 1973. BIOLOGY OF HYDRA 



Academic Press, New York, etc. XVI, 466 pp., 231 figs., 12 tabs., 



author and subject indexes. $ 29.00 



This book is very much the product of one school, that of 

 Allison Burnett. Almost all authors are actual or former asso- 

 ciates of Burnett. The book is distinctly biased on several is- 

 sues; a much better balance of viewpoint could have been 

 achieved if members of other "Hydra schools" had been asked to 

 contribute. Nevertheless, the influence of Burnett's school in 

 this field is considerable and its production impressive, and 

 the book provides a useful synthesis of the manifold approaches 

 and often very interesting results of this group. It is much 

 less useful as a general work of reference. 



We only mention in passing that the first three chapters deal 

 with the behaviour and ecology of Hydra. Most of the remaining 

 chapters are lengthy, self-contained reviews supplemented with 

 unpublished material. Although the treatment draws rather heav- 

 ily on the group's own work, the most important work of other 

 schools is usually covered. An exception is the most recent work 

 of the groups of Wolpert and Gierer. 



Chapters by Diehl and Lesh-Laurie deal with I-cells and with 

 organismic polarity, respectively, while Davis extensively 

 treats the ultrastructure of gastrodermal regeneration. The next 

 five chapters deal with epidermal regeneration and are in the 

 format of brief research papers; this is because most of the 

 work in this area is very recent. Three chapters by Davis then 

 deal with the ultrastructure of differentiating and mature ner- 

 vous elements of three types: neurosensory, ganglionic, and neu- 

 rosecretory. A long chapter by Corff deals with organismal 

 growth and the role of cell proliferation. Finally, Hausman dis- 

 cusses the mesoglea and its possible morphogenetic role. 



64. 



B.M.CARLSON. 1972. THE REGENERATION OF MINCED MUSCLES 



Karger, Basel. Monographs in Developmental Biology Vol.4. VIII, 



128 pp., 49 figs., 2 tabs. S.fr. 49.00, $ 13.75, £ 5.40, DM 44.00 



The author of this monograph has himself been doing experi- 

 ments in this area for several years. Moreover, he knows Russian 

 and other Eastern-European languages and has frequently visited 

 several countries in Eastern Europe where much work along these 

 lines is being done. The book presents original data from his 

 own research and that of three of his doctoral and several of 

 his graduate students on frogs, axolotls, and rats. This material 

 is integrated with the major findings and conclusions of the 

 "Russian school". 



The following main aspects are treated successively: gross de- 

 velopment, histological development, autoradiography, nerve sup- 

 ply, biochemical characteristics, factors determining gross form 

 and internal architecture, and homografting experiments. 



The book is well produced and beautifully illustrated, mainly 

 with photomicrographs. It has a 9-page bibliography but no index. 



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