Book Review
Experimental Coelenterate Biology

Edited by Howard M. Lenhoff, Leonard Muscatine, and Lary V. Davis. Published by the University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, October 1971, 281 pp.

This book is the result of research on coelenterates done by the editors, together with a select group of graduate students, at the Hawaii Institude of Marine Biology during the summer of 1967. The book is presented as a series of papers, and is divided into four parts dealing with, respectively, growth and development of coelenterates; feeding behavious, food transport, and metabolism; endosymbiosis with algae; and calcification. Many studies, particularly those comprising parts two to four, provide useful examples of the application of quantitative biochemical methods, and autoradiography, to the study of some of the ‘classical’ problems of coelenterate biology. The presentation of the papers is concise, and illustrations are of very good quality. Graphs and Tables are well laid out and are easily read. Full references are given after each paper, and a subject index is provided. One criticism of the book, which probably reflects the time limit of the whole research programme, is that some of the studies are very short and tend to leave interesting questions unanswered. Nevertheless such studies at least give some direction to subsequent research in this field.

The specialised nature of this book limits its use primarily to those interested in coelenterate research. It would also be a useful reference work for anybody teaching invrtebrate biology.