Reviews

cycles have often become secondarily reduced andapparently single'. Reynolds' chapter is a whole catalogueof challenges to the accepted ways of thinking andinterpreting pleomorphism and associated matters. It isthe gems like these that finally entice the reader to thinksomewhat more differently about the implications of thepleomorphic lifestyle. At a price oscillating about the£70.00 mark it will not be a realistic purchase for mostindividuals.

B. C. SUTTON

Process Development in Antibiotic Fermentations. By C. T.CALAM. (Cambridge Studies in Biotechnology 4.Cambridge University Press, 1987.) Pp.217. Price£3°.00.

For the mycologist this is a frustrating book because theauthor gets off to a bad start in trying to establish theconfidence of the reader. Section 2.5 on the identificationof the micro-organisms comments that' Fungi are usuallyidentified as far as genus, the identification of speciesbeing more difficult. Streptomycetes are usually identifiedas far as species, of which there are very many'.

The author amply demonstrates how difficult he findsthe fungi by confusing the diploid state with theheterokaryotic and dikaryotic states and confusing thenature of the perfect and imperfect stages of moulds. Theauthor comments that the identification of fungi is aspecial subject in itself. This may be the case, but theauthor would not have made the mistake of suggestingthat Penicillium chrysogenum was' a partner in the diploidEurotium' ifhe had consulted an undergraduate text bookon mycology.

This is a pity because the subject matter of the book isundoubtedly important and it contains valuable infor-mation and useful ideas based on the author's personalexperience.

The text is divided into three parts: (1) Background;(2) Process development in the laboratory; (3) Industrialfermentation plants and pilot plants. It is completed witha brief postscript highlighting the difficulty of access to

information about the high yielding strains, developed by .industry, a bibliography of further reading and referencesused in the text.

Process Development in Antibiotic Fermentations iswritten with enthusiasm for fermenters and the carefulreader will find some useful material. This reviewer'sconcern is that students using the text may be misled byerrors and lack of precision in those topics outside theauthor's expertise.

M. O. MOSS

Diseases and Plant Population Biology. By JEREMY J.BURDON. (Cambridge Studies in Ecology. CambridgeUniversity Press, 1987.) Pp, 208. Price £12.50. Hardcovers £27.50.

This book is about the role plant pathogens play in theecology of their hosts, with emphasis, for a change, onnon-agricultural plant populations and communities.With the help of chapters on how disease develops inplant populations, the genetic basis of disease resistanceand the effects of the environment on host-pathogeninteractions, the author creates within the first three-

quarters of the book a picture of how pathogens mayaffect individual plants and the size, density and geneticstructure of plant populations. The remainder of thebook contains a chapter on the reciprocal relationship ofhow the host might affect the genetic structure of thepathogen, a short, but useful, chapter on further study, aglossary of plant pathological terms, over 20 pages ofreferences and an index. In addition to the well-writtentext there is a reasonable number of mostly helpful tablesand figures. All is well-presented and there are remarkablyfew errors.

In this book the author deliberately breaks down thetraditional boundaries between disciplines and championsa neglected area of study. Many readers may find that thisdemands more than the usual effort. Students andresearch workers in plant pathology are included in thetarget readership on the back cover, but the prefacereveals that the book was written specifically for popu-lation biologists (ecologists and geneticists). This ac-counts for a glossary to assist population biologists withtheir plant pathology and the absence of anything theother way round. Most plant pathology students, how-ever, will find the first part of the book easy to follow anda useful revision of many aspects of plant disease. I, a rootpathologist, sailed through the first five chapters, not toopressed to find things to carp at, but thereafter I had towork hard.

After such effort, it was somewhat of an anticlimax tofind the apparent raison d'etre of the book. i.e. howpathogens affect wild plants, long on speculation andshort on facts and figures. Nearly every aspect had to beintroduced as being fragmentary, having yawning gaps orlacking in information. After a while this ceased to bechallenging and became tedious.

The author was well aware of the perils of breakingnew ground like this and on the whole his attempt iscommendable and highlights the increasing need forscientists who can rise above the traditional demarcations.For those more discipline-orientated readers, who arewilling to persevere beyond the easy bits of their subjects,whole new vistas will be revealed and, for such a modestprice, that surely is reward enough?

DAVID HORNBY

Food and Beverage Mycology. Ed. L. R. BEUCHAT. (VanNostrand Reinhold, New York, znd edn, 1987.)Pp. xiii +661. Price £58.45.

Since the first edition of Food and Beverage Mycology in1978, several text books have been published establishingfood mycology as an important component of foodstudies. Nevertheless, this book remains an authoritativecollection of essays on the many facets of food mycology.

The book opens with a general account of theclassification and characterization of the moulds andyeasts encountered during food studies. Although there isno escaping the need for specialist texts dealing withindividual groups of fungi, the liberal use of simple keysbased on a presumed understanding of fundamentalmycology makes this chapter a useful springboard toidentifying food associated fungi. I was surprised to seeno reference to the excellent monographs on the demati-aceous hyphomycetes by Ellis, the coelomycetes by