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Avian endocrinology: Environmental and ecological perspectives
GENERAL
AND COMPARATIVE
ENDOCRINOLOGY
54, 328-329(1984)
BOOK REVIEWS vidual page numbers. The quality of the paper and of the halftone illustrations is excellent. There is both a species index and a subject index.
Avian Endocrinology: Environmental and Ecological Perspectives. Edited by SHIN-ICHI MIKAMI, KAZUTAKA HOMMA, and MASARU WADA. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo/Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1983. xv + 334 pp., Illustr., Subject index, $53.00.
In this relatively brief book (325 pages in small format) an attempt is made to cover most of the endocrinology of birds in 24 reports by a succession of authors. The first third of the book is concerned with morphology of endocrine organs and in fact is confined to neurosecretory structures, adenohypophysis, gastroenterohepatic endocrines, the pineal, and the ovary. There is a series of papers dealing with photoneuroendocrine regulation of cyclic endocrine behavioral and reproductive phenomena. One report deals with adrenal steroid involvement in male avian reproductive phenomena and another with the influences of peptides on drinking behavior of birds. As with any book that derives from a symposium, coverage is uneven so that what emerges is a “state of the art” statement rather than an exhaustive treatment of the phenomena that could be covered under the title ‘ ‘ Avian Endocrinology. ’ ’ Another source of unevenness is the fact that each author apparently was allotted a certain number of pages (about 13) so that the length of the chapters does not correspond to the magnitude of the subject covered. Another inevitable problem is some duplication of subject matter. The book is well produced and well edited. The editors have taken the trouble to impose a uniform set of abbreviations and acronyms on all authors so that one table of abbreviations suffices for all papers. Another convenience for the reader is a detailed table of contents in which not only the titles of the 24 papers are given, but also the titles of subheadings and their indi0016~6480/84 $1.50 Copyright 0 1984 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
Hypothalamo-Pituitary Control of the Ovary, Volume 3 (Annual Research Reviews). By J. S. M. HUTCHINSON. Eden Press, St. Albans, Vt., 1983. 231 pp.; Subject and author indexes, $36.00.
328
There are various levels at which the enormous literature of reproductive endocrinology can be reviewed. Multivolume, multiauthored, well-illustrated treatises have been produced; but this book achieves the ultimate in crispness of focus, and restricts itself to coverage of only mammalian ovarian function and its control. It is, in fact, only a guide to the literature of the field, since it contains 68 pages of text and 154 pages (1703 items) of bibliography. The author has followed an outline in which the field is divided into five areas: gonadotrophic hormones, actions of gonadotrophic hormones, factors affecting the pituitary, patterns of gonadotrophic secretion, and abnormalities of gonadotrophic secretion in women. Under each of these titles, subtitled paragraphs contain brief statements te.g., “NA has a stimulatory role in gonadotrophin release (102, 209, 481, 750)“) each followed by a series of reference numbers. The comparative endocrinologist will search in vain for references to the nonmammalian literature. There are no illustrations. Control Processes in Fish Physiology. Edited by J. C. RANKIN, T. J. PITCHER AND R. T. DUGGAN. Croom Helm, London/Canberra, 1983. 298 pp.; Illustr.; Subject index and author index, $16.95.
Professor J. M. Dodd is appropriately honored for his research in this field by having
AND COMPARATIVE
ENDOCRINOLOGY
54, 328-329(1984)
BOOK REVIEWS vidual page numbers. The quality of the paper and of the halftone illustrations is excellent. There is both a species index and a subject index.
Avian Endocrinology: Environmental and Ecological Perspectives. Edited by SHIN-ICHI MIKAMI, KAZUTAKA HOMMA, and MASARU WADA. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo/Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1983. xv + 334 pp., Illustr., Subject index, $53.00.
In this relatively brief book (325 pages in small format) an attempt is made to cover most of the endocrinology of birds in 24 reports by a succession of authors. The first third of the book is concerned with morphology of endocrine organs and in fact is confined to neurosecretory structures, adenohypophysis, gastroenterohepatic endocrines, the pineal, and the ovary. There is a series of papers dealing with photoneuroendocrine regulation of cyclic endocrine behavioral and reproductive phenomena. One report deals with adrenal steroid involvement in male avian reproductive phenomena and another with the influences of peptides on drinking behavior of birds. As with any book that derives from a symposium, coverage is uneven so that what emerges is a “state of the art” statement rather than an exhaustive treatment of the phenomena that could be covered under the title ‘ ‘ Avian Endocrinology. ’ ’ Another source of unevenness is the fact that each author apparently was allotted a certain number of pages (about 13) so that the length of the chapters does not correspond to the magnitude of the subject covered. Another inevitable problem is some duplication of subject matter. The book is well produced and well edited. The editors have taken the trouble to impose a uniform set of abbreviations and acronyms on all authors so that one table of abbreviations suffices for all papers. Another convenience for the reader is a detailed table of contents in which not only the titles of the 24 papers are given, but also the titles of subheadings and their indi0016~6480/84 $1.50 Copyright 0 1984 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
Hypothalamo-Pituitary Control of the Ovary, Volume 3 (Annual Research Reviews). By J. S. M. HUTCHINSON. Eden Press, St. Albans, Vt., 1983. 231 pp.; Subject and author indexes, $36.00.
328
There are various levels at which the enormous literature of reproductive endocrinology can be reviewed. Multivolume, multiauthored, well-illustrated treatises have been produced; but this book achieves the ultimate in crispness of focus, and restricts itself to coverage of only mammalian ovarian function and its control. It is, in fact, only a guide to the literature of the field, since it contains 68 pages of text and 154 pages (1703 items) of bibliography. The author has followed an outline in which the field is divided into five areas: gonadotrophic hormones, actions of gonadotrophic hormones, factors affecting the pituitary, patterns of gonadotrophic secretion, and abnormalities of gonadotrophic secretion in women. Under each of these titles, subtitled paragraphs contain brief statements te.g., “NA has a stimulatory role in gonadotrophin release (102, 209, 481, 750)“) each followed by a series of reference numbers. The comparative endocrinologist will search in vain for references to the nonmammalian literature. There are no illustrations. Control Processes in Fish Physiology. Edited by J. C. RANKIN, T. J. PITCHER AND R. T. DUGGAN. Croom Helm, London/Canberra, 1983. 298 pp.; Illustr.; Subject index and author index, $16.95.
Professor J. M. Dodd is appropriately honored for his research in this field by having