Bennett, Boyse, and Old on cell surface Immunogenetics and the 

 study of morphogenesis. Weston deals with cell interaction in 

 neural crest development, and Robertson et al. with cellular in- 

 teractions in slime mould aggregation. Papers by Humphreys on 

 contact inhibition of growth and by Pitts on intercellular nu- 

 cleotide exchange are well worth reading. 



The section on intraneural interactions (6 papers) contains 

 papers by Sidman on cell interactions in the developing mammal- 

 ian brain; by Horridge on cell specificity and precision of con- 

 nectivity in differentiating invertebrate neurons; and by Giaco- 

 bini on the role of regulatory mechanisms of neurotransmission 

 in the establishment of synaptic connections in developing avian 

 ganglia. Two papers in the section on immunology (18 papers) 

 should be mentioned: that by Greaves and Janossy on a model for 

 antigen-induced differentiation based on lymphocyte activation, 

 and that by Mandel et al. on interactions of epithelial and lym- 

 phoid cells in the differentiating thymus. 



The book is produced in offset print from typed manuscripts. 

 The discussions held at the Symposium are not recorded. 



100. 



H.C.SLAVKIN, ed. 1972. THE COMPARATIVE MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF 



EXTRACELLULAR MATRICES 



Academic Press, New York, etc. XXIV, 468 pp., 136 figs., 29 tabs. 



$ 15.00 



Contents: I. The developmental aspects of extracellular ma- 

 trices; II. Cell surfaces: cell interactions; III. Evolution 

 of cartilage; IV. Evolution of mineralizing tissues: bone, 

 dentin and enamel; V. The molecular biology of collagen and 

 structural glycoproteins; VI. Biophysical properties of con- 

 nective tissues 



Session moderators: Slavkin, Beierle, Meyer, Sognnaes, Nimni, 

 Petruska 



This book contains the proceedings of a Conference held on 

 Santa Catalina Island, Calif, in June, 1972. Of the 60 partici- 

 pants the large majority were Americans; eight came from coun- 

 tries outside the U.S.A. The aim of the Conference was not to 

 review the well-documented aspects of matrix biology but to en- 

 gage in intensive informal discussions of contemporary issues. 

 No formal papers were presented; each session is a continuous 

 discussion led by the session moderator, who had previously 

 framed a number of questions which are printed at the beginning 

 of the session. The rough draft of the discussions was edited 

 on the spot by the participants and produced in offset print at 

 remarkable speed by Academic Press Rapid Manuscript Reproduc- 

 tion. 



The book is not suitable as an introduction for the uniniti- 

 ated, but will be read with great profit by those actively en- 

 gaged in matrix biology. The first two sessions are of particu- 

 lar interest to developmental biologists. They contain attempts 

 at re-evaluation of organogenetic induction and the expression 

 of potential during cell differentiation, and suggest new ap-^ 

 proaches to the epigenetic influence of the cell matrix (parti- 

 cularly collagen); both of these in a variety of systems, some 

 of which are relatively unknown to most developmental biologists 

 (e.g. corals, mollusc shells). 



Literature references are given in the text, and numerous good 

 illustrations are included. It is sometimes confusing that the 

 figure legends are printed in the same type as the text. The 

 book has no indexes. 

 224 



