sais NEW YORK SHELL CLUB nongs 
REVIEW: LIVING MARINE MOLLUSKS 
8 BE ins Sons & Co., It 
b « Meg and Tf, E. Thompson. William Coll E itd. 
he Sneland, distributed by American Malacologists, Box 4208, : 
Greenville, Delaware 19807, 1976, 288 D-, illuas; $135.95% 
This delightfully written and bountifully illustrated introduction 
to the sceacat niwbord of marine mollusks provides a wealth of in- 
formation to anyone interested in these denizens of the sea. Orig. 
inally intended as an account of the temperate fauna of the British 
shores, the scope of the book was expanded to include a variety of 
mollusks from other climes, as well as examples of those inhabiting 
the open seas and the abyssal depths. The result is an excellent 
general account of the biology of these invertebrates. The focus is, 
however, placed on the British fauna, and the reader will encounter 
statements intended by the authors to apply only to their local 
fauna. For example, the scaphopods are said to live always below 
tidal levels, which is not the case for some species in other parts 
of the world. In future editions, these editorial lapses should be 
corrected. 
The first three chapters are general accounts pertaining to the his- 
tory of malacology and the nature and classification of mollusks. 
The remaining 15 chapters deal with the different classes of mol- 
lusks: 1 on polyplacophorans (chitons), 7 on gastropods, 6 on bi- 
valves, and 1 on cephalopods. The scaphopods are incorporated ina 
chapter with the “anomalous bivalves." The aplacophorans, or soleno- 
gastres, are briefly described in the chapter on classification, and 
the monoplacophorans are treated in the discussion of the nature of 
mollusks. Thus, the sea-dwelling representatives of the seven 
classes of living mollusks are adequately treated, together with 
some extinct marine forms, to give the reader an insight into the 
extraordinarily diverse results of molluscan evolution. 
Understandably, the most thorough accounts pertain to the authors' 
specialties: the bivalves by Yonge; "Opisthobranch, sea-snails" and 
"Sea-slugs," the chapters contributed by Thompson. In these presen- 
tations, both authors drew heavily on their own extensive studies of 
these groups for which they are two of the foremost authorities. 
This volume is a most welcome addition to the contempora introduc- 
tory texts on marine malacology. It is especially redéimendad to 
the general reader as a primer on shells, a subject that has long 
evoked in mankind an aesthetic appreciation of the almost infinite 
variety of form and structure exhibited by these gems from the sea. 
William K. Emerson 
Department of Invertebrates 
American Museum of Natural History 
(Reprinted from BioScience Vol. 27 No. 12 (p.818), 1977.) 

From Dr. David H. Stansber 
. ‘ y, Ohio State University Mu ember 
29, 1977: “Recent studies of the lower Muskingum indicate’ thet at 
its waters but that the mol 
sity to about a fourth of t 
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