This book on an increasingly popular and promising, simple eukaryotic developmental 

 system does not attempt to be exhaustive, but rather to bring into focus most of the 

 major past and present studies on this organism in a concise and readable form. In this it 

 is successful and it will certainly perform a most useful function for many years to come. 



As is apparent from the table of contents the subject matter is organised partly on the 

 basis of developmental stages and partly around selected aspects applying to all stages. 

 This approach has made possible a subdivision into short, easily surveyable chapters. 

 Ch.l2 deals mainly with external factors, while ch.l3 discusses various models proposed 

 to explain the regulation of the differentiation pattern in the pseudoplasmodium, and the 

 evidence for and against them. 



The photographic illustrations, provided by P. Famsworth, are excellent. The biblio- 

 graphy contains some 700 titles and runs w^U into 1974. An author index would have 

 been helpful. 



24. 



L. S. OLIVE. 1975. THE MYCETOZOANS 



Academic Press, New York, etc. X, 293 pp., 251 figs., taxonomic and subject indexes. 



$23.50, £11.30 



This monograph for the first time brings together comprehensive information on the 

 biology and taxonomy of the mycetozoans and associated groups {Plasmodia phorina and 

 Labyrinthulina). A revised classification is proposed that places the Dictyostelia and 

 myxomycetes in one class and the Acrasida in another. The resulting six main groups 

 (including the recently discovered primitive Protostelia) are treated clearly and systema- 

 tically, each chapter showing the same format: isolation and maintenance, classification 

 and descriptions, details of life cycle, ultrastructure, and genetics. 



Because of their significance for developmental studies the life cycles, ultrastructure 

 and genetics of the Dictyostelia and the myxomycetes are reviewed fairly extensively 

 (over 30 pp. for each group). Investigators working on these groups will also be interested 

 to read about the life cycles of other, less familiar mycetozoans. 



The book is illustrated mainly with a profusion of excellent photographs and micro- 

 graphs from recent sources, many of them previously unpublished. The literature re- 

 viewed goes until 1973 with occasional references from 1974. 



25. 



P. F. ROSELER. 1975. DIE KASTEN DER SOZIALEN BIENEN 



F. Steiner, Wiesbaden. Akademie der Wissensch. und der Literatur (Mainz), Math.- 

 Naturw. Kl., Informationsaufnahme und Informationsverarbeitung im lebenden Organis- 

 mus 3. 97 pp., 26 figs., 2 tabs. DM 26.40 (paper) 



Systematic review of literature data on three bee families with many subfamilies; 

 sections on morphological and physiological polymorphism, caste determination, and 

 fertility regulation; evolutionary considerations; 12-page bibliography until 1973; good 

 line drawings. 



Dissertations 



26. 



H.-J. MARTHY. 1976. LES DETERMINISMES DANS LA MORPHOGENESE, contribu- 

 tion a I'embryologie experimentale des Cephalopodes 

 Ph.D. thesis, Paris (Univ. Curie). 55 pp., 7 figs, (mimeographed) 



Synthesis of 7 previous publications (1970-75) and newer findings on the embryology 

 of Loligo vulgaris; conclusions contrasted with those of Arnold; excellent photographs. 



186 



