plant hormones; RNA/protein synthesis and cell stretching; 

 threshold mechanisms of various kinds; primary and secondary 

 differentiation (i.e., competence for hormone action, and bio- 

 chemical differentiation, respectively); flavonoid synthesis as 

 a model for biochemical differentiation; energetics of morpho- 

 genesis (thermodynamical considerations); blue-light-mediated 

 photomorphogenesis; and general considerations of genes and the 

 environment . 



The book is well printed and very well illustrated. It has a 

 bibliography of over 300 titles, and in addition each lecture is 

 concluded by a brief list of suggested further reading. 



Dissertations 



18. , 



J. PARE. 1972. CONTRIBUTION A L ' EMBRYOLOGIE DES CRUCIFERES, Nou- 



velles recherches sur la transformation de 1' ovule en graine 



chez le Draba verna L. 



D.E.S. thesis, Univ. of Picardia (France). 80 pp. (mimeographed), 



numerous very good drawings 



Detailed descriptive study of embryogenesis ; cell lineage; 

 rates of cleavage; development of albumen. 



Symposium reports 



19. 



H.KALDEWEY and Y.VARDAR, eds. 1972. HORMONAL REGULATION IN PLANT 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 



Verlag Chemie, Weinheim. XII, 524 pp., 176 figs., 80 tabs., au- 

 thor and subject indexes. DM 85.00, £ 11.42 



This volume embodies the proceedings of the NATO Advanced 

 Study Institute held at Izmir, Turkey in 1971. The participants 

 came from 17 countries in three continents. Although it is dif- 

 ficult to judge for an outsider, the list of contributors sug- 

 gests that many were relatively young workers, which may add in- 

 terest to the book for those well-established in the field. The 

 aim of the organizers was to cover the entire field indicated by 

 the title. K.V.Thimann says in the preface: "Our field has 

 reached a stage of great complexity, and the papers in this vol- 

 ume represent in many respects a phase of much-needed consolida- 

 tion rather than of the opening up of completely new horizons". 



Most of the 40 papers are research reports averaging about 10 

 pages in length, while some are condensed reviews of recent 

 work. All papers are followed by group discussions. The papers 

 are grouped in eight sections as follows: I. Basic problems of 

 growth promotion and growth inhibition (4 papers); II. Transport 

 and excretion problems (6); III. Growth regulation in shoots and 

 roots (4); IV. Mode of action of auxins, gibberellins , and cyto- 

 kinins (7); V. Mode of action of ethylene, abscisins, and morph- 

 actins (6); VI. Plant movements and correlations (6); VII. Flow- 

 ering, fruiting and ageing in plants (6); VIII. Growth regula- 

 tion in sugarcane (1). 



The book is produced in offset print and is not inordinately 

 expensive. The illustrations have come out well, even the elec- 

 tron micrographs. Literature quoted in the discussions is not 

 incorporated in the reference lists. The subject index was pre- 

 pared with great care. 



193 



