two which have lost most of the detail. The book has no indexes 

 and rather many printing errors. 



Reference works 



124. 



R.C.KING. 1972. A DICTIONARY OF GENETICS. 2nd edit. 



Oxford Univ. Press, London, etc. VIII, 337 pp., many figs. £ 2.25, 



$ 4.95 (paper) 



This is the second edition of a book first published in 1968 

 (see review in Gen.Embryol. Inf .Serv. , vol.13, 1969, p. 312). Al- 

 though it is a glossary rather than a dictionary, it is useful 

 particularly for students who are beginning to read the primary 

 genetical and related literature. 



In the new edition 700 new entries have been added, some ex- 

 tant entries redefined, and some of the appendices updated. A 

 flaw that has not been removed is the inconsistency and inac- 

 curacy of many of the cross references. For instance, under "In- 

 trachromosomal aberrations" the reader is referred to "Aberra- . 

 tions", whence he is referred further to "Chromosomal aberra- 

 tions". Under "Field" there is a reference to "Pattern", but 

 the latter entry is absent. There are more similar examples. 

 Some care should be devoted to this in future editions. 



SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT, GAMETOGENESIS , FERTILIZATION, REPRODUCTION 



(see also 15,22,24,28,34,45,121,122) 

 Treatises 



125. 



H.BALIN and S.GLASSER, eds . 1972. REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY 

 Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam. XII, 973 pp., 280 figs., 68 tabs., 

 subject index. D.fl. 152.00 



Contents: I. Neuroendocrine-hormonal interrelationships (3 

 chs.); II. Gonadal factors: male (3); HI. Gonadal factors: 

 female (10); IV. Utero-ovarian-fetal interrelationships (6); 

 V. Ancillary hormonal and socio-behavioral influences on re- 

 production (3) 



The reason why we briefly review this book is that almost all 

 mammalian embryologists will at one time or another be confront- 

 ed with problems of mammalian reproductive biology. The book 

 presents a selective but well-integrated series of 25 critical 

 and highly informative reviews of major areas in this field, 

 written by 31 American and three European experts. Both basic 

 and clinical aspects are considered. Perhaps understandably, not 

 all chapters are equally up to date. The groups of chapters out- 

 lined in the table of contents above are each preceded by an 

 introduction by the editors which places the chapters in ques- 

 tion in wider perspective. 



Chapters of particular interest to our readers are those by 

 Bedford on sperm transport, capacitation and fertilization, by 

 Baker on oogenesis and ovarian development, by Brinster on the 

 nutrition and biochemistry of the developing zygote, by Glasser 

 on the uterine environment in implantation and decidualization, 

 and by Parks and Zimmer on immunological aspects of the fetal- 

 maternal relationship. In the third and fifth of these most of 

 the literature cited does not go beyond 1969. 



236 



