BOOK R E V I E W S

Chromosome Atlas: Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles and Birds. Coordinating Editors: K. Benirschke (University of California, Calif., U.S.A.) and T. C. Hsu (Houston, Tex., U.S.A.), Editors: M. L. Beqak, W. Beqak, T. R. Chen and R. N. Shoffner. Vol. 3, 54 plates, XIII + 228 pp., 1975, Loose-leaf, boxed DM 46.10, US $19.80. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-07207-1.

This volume brings the number of folio's with chromosome studies of fishes to 30, of amphibia to 36, of reptilia to 43, and of birds to 49. Much remains to be done. Both an alphabetical index of this volume and a cumulative index as well as a systemetical 'contents of volume 3' and a 'cummulative contents' seems overdone for about 160 species.

S.G.

Orci, L. and Perrelet, A.: Freeze-Etch Histology. A Comparison between Thin Sections and Freeze-Etch Replicas, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1975, VII + 168 pages, 82 figs. Cloth DM 145,-; US $62.40.

Freeze-etching and freeze-fracturing techniques have revealed unexpected features of cell and tissues. Such a new physical approach of specimen preparation is in fact basically different from the other electron microscopic methods involving chemical fixation, embedding, sectioning and staining. Freeze-etching and the double replica technique provide bi-dimensional and even tri- dimensional information on the organization of cellular organella and on the internal architecture of membranes. Hence the interpretation of the images produced by the fracture and the etching and the comparison of this portraits with the one-dimensional feature of thin sectional specimens are not easily apparent.

This magnificent atlas guides the student of cell biology along the vitrified complex world of cell and tissue ultrastructure and provides a comprehensive galery of matching portraits of sectioned, stained and freeze-etched specimens.

The images are really beautiful and well-chosen. However, likewise it happens where someone glances through a geographic atlas the represented signals and profiles are not sufficient to bring the observer back to the living landscape if he has not yet by himself travelled across the country.

E. L. Benedetti

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Molecular Biology Reports 2 (1975) 351-352. All Rights Reserved. Copyright �9 1975 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland.

The world of membrane biology is indeed conflicting and restless. Therefore competitional criteria in that advanced battle front of molecular biology force (or commit) many people to apply very specialized and sophisticated techniques in a rather a-critical manner and without a realistic under- standing of the prospective of the applied method. Often the limitation of some techniques are

not set by their own proper features but rather by the poor theoretical knowledge of the user. This outstanding book of Wallach and Winzler offers to the naive biologist the necessary theore- tical and practical comprehension of the technological panoply and analytical prDofs which may be powerful tools for discovering the molecular mechanism of membrane functions.

Although this book came to the attention of the reviewer rather late after the publication, it keeps nevertheless its actual value and relevance in the modern trends of membranology. The only

regret concerns the outrageous silence of the authors on the proper role of that methods and techniques devoted to the ultrastructural analysis may play in the 'Evolving Strategies and Tactics of Membrane Research'.

E. L. Benedetti

A. W. Snyder, Australian National University, Canberra, and R. Menzel, Technische Hochschule, Darmstadt (eds.): Photoreceptor Optics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1975, X + 523 pp., 259 figs. Cloth DM 97,- ; US $41.80.

This book derives from an international workshop on photoreceptor optics, held in Darmstadt, Western Germany, during October 1974.

It centres around the question how the visual photoreceptors influence their absorption of light. Next to a general introduction to the field by the editors, the book contains 28 contributions

of prominent scientists from all over the world. The contents are organized in six sections: photo- receptor waveguide optics, membranes and dichroism, photopigment: membrane and dichroism, polarisation sensitivity and dichroism, photomechanical responses of photoreceptors, and electrophysiology of photoreceptors.

With the restriction that the emphasis clearly falls on invertebrate systems, this book can be recommended as a useful introduction to the field covering both fundamentals and recent research results.

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