General embryological information service - HPS Repository

Symposium reports
38.
J.H.CALABY and C . H.TYNDALE-BISCOE , eds. 1977. REPRODUCTION AND EVOLUTION
Austral. Acad, of Sci., Canberra. VIII, 380 pp., 198 figs., 52 tabs.,
taxonomic and subject indexes. $ 20.00 (paper)
This symposium was held in Canberra in December 1976 and was attended
mainly by Anglo-Saxon workers, more than half of them from Australia and
New Zealand. A major feature is the emphasis on monotreraes and marsupials.
The 47 papers were reproduced directly from typescripts and vary tremendously
in format. No discussions are recorded.
Of the five sections into which the papers are arranged, that on Embryomaternal
interactions and the evolution of viviparity is of most interest
to our readers. It contains 13 papers describing work on lizards, monotreraes,
marsupials and eutherian mammals. Nine of the (first) authors are
Australian. The summing-up of this section by McLaren is well worth reading.
Other sections deal with Evolution of sex determination. Comparative aspects
of reproduction in male vertebrates, and Ovarian cycles and luteal
function.
39.
H.LUTZ, P.LUBET and H.CHARNIAUX-COTTON, organisers. 1976. DIFFERENCIATION
SEXUELLE
Soc. Zool. de France, Paris. Bull. Soc. Zool. France 101, suppl.no. 4.
VI, 119 pp., 15 figs., 5 tabs.
Series of 17 brief papers in French on primordial germ cells and internal
and external control of sexual differentiation in invertebrates and vertebrates;
offset figures.
40.
SYMPOSIUM ON GERM AND SOMATIC CELL INTERACTION. 1978
Inst. Natl, de la Rech. Agronomique, Jouy-en-Josas . Ann. Biol. Anim. Biochim.
Biophys, 18, 2B. 328 pp., 107 figs., 19 pis., 38 tabs. F.Fr.65.00
(paper)
This symposium took place in Paris in July 1977 and had a widely international
attendance. Almost all of the 37 contributions are brief reports of
recent research; all are in English with French summaries. They deal with
mammals, some lower vertebrates, and some invertebrates (particularly starfish)
.
Two of the four sections contain papers of interest to developmental
biologists (we give the names of the authors concerned in parentheses)
Section 1 is entitled Interaction between somatic and germ cells in the embryo
(Burgoyne, Byskov, Carlon and Erickson, Wai-Sum O arid Baker) . Section 3
is on Cell interaction in the ovary (particularly oocyte maturation:
Guerrier et at., Jalabert, Moor, Ozon et at., Schuetz and Cloud, Szollosi
et al., Zeilmaker) . The other sections deal with Genetic control of meiosis
and Testis cell relationships.
The volume is well printed and illustrated with top-quality photographs.
41.
D.H.TAYLOR and S.I.GUTTMAN, eds. 1977. THE REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF AMPHIBIANS
Plenum, New York, etc. X,475 pp., 123 figs., 55 tabs., taxonomic and subject
indexes. $ 42.50
Because so many developmental biologists work with amphibians we briefly
alert our readers to this volume. It is based on a symposium held in Oxford,
Ohio in August 1976 and contains a series of reviews of recently completed
.
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