descriptive sections, occupying about half of the book, there are a series of brief chapters 

 dealing, among other things, with growth and ageing, cell differentiation and its mecha- 

 nisms, regeneration and repair, immunological aspects, teratology, and behaviour and 

 learning. The last three chapters deal somewhat more extensively with development in 

 higher plants and invertebrates (with emphasis on insects), and with cell and organ 

 culture. 



This reviewer feels that the central concept of selective gene activation could have 

 been brought out more clearly, and that it would have been useful to have succinct 

 definitions of important concepts such as morphogenesis, regulation, and metaplasia. 



The book is illustrated mainly with good line drawings. All chapters are concluded by 

 a Ust of books for further reading. 



5. 



J. NITSCHMANN. 1973. ENTWICKLUNG BE! MENSCH UND TIER (Embryologie) 

 Vieweg, Braunschweig. Wissensch. Taschenbiicher Biologic 111. 175 pp., 45 figs., 16 pis., 

 combined subject, author and taxonomic index. DM 12.80 (paper) 



This little book was written primarily for biology teachers and beginning students. It is 

 a synthesis of the classical data on comparative, experimental and biochemical embryolo- 

 gy. Within the limited space available the author has produced a sohd, well-organised text 

 which can be very useful as an introduction. It must be said, however, that the coverage 

 of experimental embryology is very selective and decidedly dated. For those specifically 

 interested in this aspect collateral reading must be recommended. At the end of the book 

 there are brief chapters on developmental anomalies, cell culture and regeneration, and 

 ageing. 



The book is illustrated with simple but good line drawings and interesting photogra- 

 phic plates. 



Symposium reports 



6. 



CIBA - Symposium. 1975. CELL PATTERNING 



Elsevier — Excerpta Medica — North -Holland, Amsterdam, etc. Ciba Foundation Sympo- 

 sium 29 (new series). VIII, 356 pp., 90 figs., 11 tabs., subject index. Dfl. 62.50, $ 26.95 



Contributors: Barbera, Brenner (chairman), Bryant, Frankel, Garci'a-Bellido, Gardner, 

 Gurdon, Hunt, Johnson, Kauffman, Lawrence, Lewis, Marchase, Mark, Meinertzhagen, 

 Roth, Sander, Sengel, Summerbell, Wolpert 



This report of a Ciba Symposium is again an outstanding success. The chairman has 

 succeeded in bringing together a large proportion of the world's leading investigators of 

 pattern formation in all sorts of organisms including protozoans. Although to those who 

 regularly keep up with the literature in this area there is Uttle that is very new in the 

 volume, it is very useful to have it all together in readable short chapters. To outsiders 

 and newcomers to the field the book is an invaluable source of information. 



As usual the discussions following each chapter are among the most interesting parts of 

 the book. The sometimes heated exchanges between the proponents of the molecular and 

 the global (macroscopic) approaches are both stimulating and revealing. There are also 

 many non-trivial remarks on terminology. 



As we have come to expect from this publisher the book is very well produced and 

 illustrated. 



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