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which is listed under “Rhodin, A.,” who is a founding editor, andsometime author in this journal, which was first published in November1993, not 1997 as the citation reads.The index of scientific names only lists taxa by genus, then species,following the authors’ taxonomic interpretation. This doesnot provide user-friendly access, particularly in light of the taxonomicand nomenclatural changes that have occurred in recentyears. For instance, the Western Pond turtle of North America cannotbe found under the still widely used name Clemmys marmorata,but only under Actinemys marmorata. At a minimum, cross-listingby specific epithet followed by genus would have greatly facilitatedreader use of the index.After only two years, the English edition of Turtles of the Worldis already in its second printing. The online library catalogueWorldCat (www.worldcat.org) shows that at least 448 institutionallibraries worldwide have a copy. It would be prudent for the thriftyturtle book enthusiast to seek one of these library holdings to inspecta copy before making a purchase.LITERATURE CITEDBUSKIRK, J. R. 1988. New locality records in Argentina and Paraguay forchelid turtles Platemys pallidectoris (Freiberg) and Platemysmacrocephala (Rhodin et al.). Herpetol. Rev. 19:74–75.Herpetological Review, 2008, 39(2), 252–253.© 2008 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and ReptilesLes Urodèles du Monde, by Jean Raffaëlli. 2007. Penclen Édition,Plumelec, France (contact: jean.raffaelli@laposte.net). 377 pp.Softcover. ISBN 978-2-9528246-0-6. € 65.00 (approx. US$97.00).AARON M. BAUERDepartment of Biology, Villanova University800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085, USAe-mail: aaron.bauer@villanova.eduJean Raffaëlli has produced astrange, but useful and inspiringbook on salamanders. LesUrodèles du Monde can best beunderstood in light of author’sown background, interests, andmotivations, which are summarizedin the 26 pages of“L’aventure personnelle autourdes salamanders.” Raffaëlli beganhis personal odyssey with salamandersin his native France,studying them both in the field andin the terrarium. His love of allthings urodelan led him to expand,not only his captive studies, buthis field work to encompass muchof the world, but particularly the Americas, where salamander diversityis greatest. Raffaëlli’s narrative incorporates comments onand by a diversity of salamander experts from both Europe (e.g.,Marc Alcher, Robert Thorn) and America (e.g., David Wake, JamesHanken, Richard Highton, C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr.), all of whomhave influenced his passion for salamanders or contributed to hisown knowledge of and appreciation for these amphibians. Thispersonal background, which also touches on chytrid fungus, habitatdestruction in Mexico, and the secrets of maintaining salamandersin captivity, is illustrated by small photos of the people,places and salamanders that have made the deepest impressionson him.The main body of the book consists of concise species accountsof all salamander taxa recognized as of June 2006. These havedrawn heavily from the Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA;www.globalamphibians.org), using GAA threat categories, maps,and estimates of extent of occurrence. For each taxon (subspeciesthrough all higher order ranks within Amphibia) the author anddate of description are provided and for all groupings less inclusivethan Urodela there is accompanying text. For supraspecificcategories, diagnostic features, fossils, phylogeny and taxonomyare discussed. The currency of the taxonomy is impressive. I suspectthat many of the genera, subgenera, and species detailed willbe unfamiliar, even to most amphibian specialists, unless their ownknowledge of the literature is both global and comprehensive.Each species/subspecies account (all recognized forms, as wellas several undescribed forms of Chiropterotriton and Pachytriton,are illustrated and discussed) occupies between a quarter of a halfpagecolumn and a full page. Although not divided into discretesubsections, each account provides information about taxonomy(particularly recent changes), characteristic features, color (includingontogenetic and sexual variation), habitat, reproduction (numberof eggs, phenology), diet, threats, distribution (including extentof occurrence), and GAA threat/status category. For someaccounts a separate “note d’élevage,” in bold, provides husbandryobservations. More extensive husbandry information is providedin boxed features scattered throughout the text and tailored forgroups with similar housing and rearing requirements (e.g.,ambystomatids, Triturus and related genera plus Cynops,Plethodon, small-bodied bolitoglossines).The main complaint that I had and, I suspect, most readers willhave is with the maps and illustrations. Each species account has asmall (and I mean small!, mostly ~35 × 33 mm) map associatedwith it (subspecies are typically shown together on a single map,which for Salamandra salamandra, with 15 subspecies, is a problem).These are sometimes sufficient to allow the reader to gethis/her bearings, but in other cases all but the most geographicallysavvy will be lost. In many instances the range markings on themaps are so small and inconspicuous that only careful inspectionreveals them (a surprisingly large number of species have areas ofoccurrence of