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Reproductive behavior
190
always worthwhile to read the papers of a really creative scientist and, as can be seen from the list of contents, this book is not only of interest to ethologists, psychologists and all workers in neurobiology, but also to those who enjoy seeing how an original mind considers biological questions of a general philosophical nature. The book is clearly printed and the papers are illustrated with figures.
B.A. BALDWIN (Cambridge, Great Britain)
REPRODUCTION
Reproductive
Behavior. Vol. 11, Advances in Behavioral Biology. W. Montagna and W.A. Sadler (Editors). Plenum Press, New York, N.Y., London, 1974, viii + 376 pp., US $30.00.
Reproductive Behavior is the collection of papers from the conference of that name held at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (Beaverton, Oregon), July 16th-17th 1973, planned in conjunction with the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The broad aims of the book, according to the Foreword by the editors (Montagna and Sadler), are to clarify and explain the mechanisms controlling mammalian sexual behaviour, with the ultimate goal of controlling population fertility - presumably human. The 16 papers range widely in content, from the neural control of gonadotropin secretion ( S.M. McCann) to evolutionary theories of human sexuality (F.A. Beach), and in style. There is little linking of the individual contributions except that they can all be broadly described as “ reproductive”. It would have been pleasing to find a similar common theme justifying the use of “behavior” in the appellation, but alas, this is not so. The majority of papers concern the determinants of sexual behaviour and the list of species described is evenly divided between rodents and primates. It is felt that the title is a gross over-generalisation and frankly misleading. The authors are leading authorities in the U.S.A., the reviews of their specialities, therefore, command the highest respect and do not fail to satisfy. A feature of many contributions is the inclusion of unpublished results, opinions and numerous personal communications. This, of course, can be a strength and weakness but taken as a whole is one of the attributes. The addition of numerous blocks of data is wasteful of space, if not redundant in many instances, which taken in conjunction with typography and layout, leads one to suggest 376 pages as unnecessarily liberal. Perhaps more effort could have been directed towards expanding and moreover checking the subject index which takes a bare eight pages.
191
The contents have been divided into three sections: Central Nervous System and Sexual Behavior; Pheromones and Hormones in Reproductive Behavior; Behavioral and Social Determinants of Reproductive Behaviour. The first section covers neural and hormonal relationships in sexual and maternal behaviour of rats. The second ranges over pheromones, social behaviour, puberty, sex differentiation, mounting behaviour and hormones, quoting work with mice, rats, rhesus monkeys and other non-human primates. The third section starts with the concept that behaviour controls reproductive physiology (N.T. Adler), includes dominance and aggression studies in the male Japanese Macaque (G.G. Eaton), and finishes with papers on the fertility of American women in general (L.L. Bumpass) and minority groups in particular (H.L. Browning). The concluding and special lecture by Beach expresses his synthesis of the evolution of human sexuality and its distinction from sex. Ethologists, in the Lorenzian meaning of the term, should find plenty of diversity and stimulus for comparison in this assortment. The conference itself was, no doubt, an invigorating experience but the edited proceedings lack theme and cohesion. A wealth of information from disparate sources is collected between hard covers and as such provides a series of valuable summaries. The value of this volume to workers in applied animal ethology would be as a source of authoritative but brief reviews in the intensively studied laboratory animal reproductive physiology field. One could certainly recommend purchase for a biological research library but there can be few workers who would justify a personal copy at US $30.00.
ROBERT J. HOLMES (Palmerston North, New Zealand)
Hormones
and Sexual Behauior. Benchmark Papers in Animal Behavior, Vol. 1. Carol Sue Carter (Editor). Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa./Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 1974, 362 pp., US $20.00.
This volume on Hormones and Sexual Behavior is part of a series of Benchmark Papers in the pure and applied sciences. The series in Animal Behavior is edited by Martin W. Schein of West Virginia University. This volume, edited by Carol Sue Carter, is the first in the series, and has several purposes set within the framework of animal behavior and the great growth of related textbooks and journals. Several purposes are set out. For the teacher, the volume should be a supplement presenting selected original research papers of outstanding quality. For the researcher, basic articles are collected from diverse and frequently difficult to procure sources. For the student, the collection should provide an accessible set of original papers revealing seminal contributions. For the librarian, the collection should be an economically
always worthwhile to read the papers of a really creative scientist and, as can be seen from the list of contents, this book is not only of interest to ethologists, psychologists and all workers in neurobiology, but also to those who enjoy seeing how an original mind considers biological questions of a general philosophical nature. The book is clearly printed and the papers are illustrated with figures.
B.A. BALDWIN (Cambridge, Great Britain)
REPRODUCTION
Reproductive
Behavior. Vol. 11, Advances in Behavioral Biology. W. Montagna and W.A. Sadler (Editors). Plenum Press, New York, N.Y., London, 1974, viii + 376 pp., US $30.00.
Reproductive Behavior is the collection of papers from the conference of that name held at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (Beaverton, Oregon), July 16th-17th 1973, planned in conjunction with the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The broad aims of the book, according to the Foreword by the editors (Montagna and Sadler), are to clarify and explain the mechanisms controlling mammalian sexual behaviour, with the ultimate goal of controlling population fertility - presumably human. The 16 papers range widely in content, from the neural control of gonadotropin secretion ( S.M. McCann) to evolutionary theories of human sexuality (F.A. Beach), and in style. There is little linking of the individual contributions except that they can all be broadly described as “ reproductive”. It would have been pleasing to find a similar common theme justifying the use of “behavior” in the appellation, but alas, this is not so. The majority of papers concern the determinants of sexual behaviour and the list of species described is evenly divided between rodents and primates. It is felt that the title is a gross over-generalisation and frankly misleading. The authors are leading authorities in the U.S.A., the reviews of their specialities, therefore, command the highest respect and do not fail to satisfy. A feature of many contributions is the inclusion of unpublished results, opinions and numerous personal communications. This, of course, can be a strength and weakness but taken as a whole is one of the attributes. The addition of numerous blocks of data is wasteful of space, if not redundant in many instances, which taken in conjunction with typography and layout, leads one to suggest 376 pages as unnecessarily liberal. Perhaps more effort could have been directed towards expanding and moreover checking the subject index which takes a bare eight pages.
191
The contents have been divided into three sections: Central Nervous System and Sexual Behavior; Pheromones and Hormones in Reproductive Behavior; Behavioral and Social Determinants of Reproductive Behaviour. The first section covers neural and hormonal relationships in sexual and maternal behaviour of rats. The second ranges over pheromones, social behaviour, puberty, sex differentiation, mounting behaviour and hormones, quoting work with mice, rats, rhesus monkeys and other non-human primates. The third section starts with the concept that behaviour controls reproductive physiology (N.T. Adler), includes dominance and aggression studies in the male Japanese Macaque (G.G. Eaton), and finishes with papers on the fertility of American women in general (L.L. Bumpass) and minority groups in particular (H.L. Browning). The concluding and special lecture by Beach expresses his synthesis of the evolution of human sexuality and its distinction from sex. Ethologists, in the Lorenzian meaning of the term, should find plenty of diversity and stimulus for comparison in this assortment. The conference itself was, no doubt, an invigorating experience but the edited proceedings lack theme and cohesion. A wealth of information from disparate sources is collected between hard covers and as such provides a series of valuable summaries. The value of this volume to workers in applied animal ethology would be as a source of authoritative but brief reviews in the intensively studied laboratory animal reproductive physiology field. One could certainly recommend purchase for a biological research library but there can be few workers who would justify a personal copy at US $30.00.
ROBERT J. HOLMES (Palmerston North, New Zealand)
Hormones
and Sexual Behauior. Benchmark Papers in Animal Behavior, Vol. 1. Carol Sue Carter (Editor). Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa./Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 1974, 362 pp., US $20.00.
This volume on Hormones and Sexual Behavior is part of a series of Benchmark Papers in the pure and applied sciences. The series in Animal Behavior is edited by Martin W. Schein of West Virginia University. This volume, edited by Carol Sue Carter, is the first in the series, and has several purposes set within the framework of animal behavior and the great growth of related textbooks and journals. Several purposes are set out. For the teacher, the volume should be a supplement presenting selected original research papers of outstanding quality. For the researcher, basic articles are collected from diverse and frequently difficult to procure sources. For the student, the collection should provide an accessible set of original papers revealing seminal contributions. For the librarian, the collection should be an economically