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The world ocean: an introduction to oceanography
Book Rev~ws
869
water. This is followed by C. A. Repenning's paper on the functional morphology of underwater hearing in seals, which outlines the anatomical features of the ears of phocid and otarid seals, and of the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), in relation to the perception of sound underwater by resonant reaction and bone conduction, and to diving. The evolutionary implications of the features found in these three groups are also discussed. The comparative anatomy of the hind limbs of the river otter (Lutra canadensis), sea otter (Enhydra lutris), harp seal, California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) and walrus, is reviewed and discussed by F. J. Tarasoff with reference to locomotion, thermoregulation and grooming in a series of aquatically adapted animals. One of the two papers on whales deals with the comparative anatomy of the cetacean nervous system. There have been many general descriptions of the brain in cetaceans but few detailed quantitative studies, partly because of the practical difficulties involved in obtaining suitable material, especially from the larger whales. P. J. Morgane and M. S. Jacobs and their colleagues have now an impressive collection of specially prepared material for detailed studies of the brain of the bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). This forms the basis for the summary account of their studies presented in this paper which also refers to observations on other species where possible. The other paper, by R. J. Harrison, R. L. Brownell Jr. and R. C. Boice, reviews the available information on reproduction and the appearance of the gonads in a n u m b e r of species of the smaller toothed whales. F o r some species few data exist, but the accounts of the genera Tursiops, Lagenorhynchus, Stenella and Delphinus present the authors' own observations, listing data for individual animals and providing a substantial amount of important new information. All of the above papers are valuable, up-to-date accounts of their subjects. F o r good measure, Professor Harrison's preface includes a sketch of the history of anatomical studies on marine mammals and reminds us of workers ranging from Belon in the sixteenth century, to Brazier Howell and Slijper in the twentieth. Present workers in this field will look forward to the appearance of further volumes in this important series. S. G. BROWN
Whale Research Unit, Institute of Oceanographic Research, c/ o British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD.
T h e w o r l d ocean: an i n t r o d u c t i o n to o c e a n o g r a p h y , by WILLIAM A. ANIKOUCHINE and RICHARD
W. STERNBERG, Prentice Hall, 338 pp. £6.00 18 )< 24 era. MANY OCEANOGRAPHERS, and particularly those who teach the subject, find a need to publish their own version of an introduction to oceanography. A wide variety of texts is now available, but few of these works are suitable for 'students without backgrounds in science'. Dr. Anikouchine and Professor Sternberg have compiled a text from their lectures, and PrenticeHall have produced a book with board covers, stitched and glued with headers, embossed with silver lettering and with as presentable a binding as one could wish for in these days of the paperback. The figures, m a n y in three tone, formal, modern, lower case chapter headings and contents list, clear text type face, wide margins and pleasant layout, give an overall impression of artistic clarity albeit the proof-reader has allowed a few spelling mistakes. That there is a need for this book cannot be denied. The multidisciplinary nature of the subject has led school teachers up nightmare alley, searching the book catalogues for an all-embracing introduction to the subject, while oceanographic librarians, have. until this book was published, been unable to quote a single book tide with 15 chapters, appendix, glossary and auxiliary reading list, on all aspects of oceanography. The subject matter, after a general introduction, gives the dimensions of the oceans, their morphology, bathymetry and an historical view of the origin of ocean basins, with sections on sea floor spreading, plate tectonics and 22 references to follow up the generalities of the text. Chemistry in 18 pages and physical properties in 13, with only five references, not all relevant, are the weakest sections of the book, but these are followed u p with a clear, concise oceanic circulation, 21 pages, waves, 15 pages, both containing short relevant reading lists, although celerity replacing speed in the wave formula seems a mistake for the non-scientist. The chapter on tides, the best in the book. but also the longest, 25 pages, and inshore oceanography at
870
Book Reviews
22 pages, lead us to the biological section covered in three chapters or 55 pages. Here there are some careless places, Plate VII F and the photograph on p. 207 being printed upside down and incorrect spellings of ichthyosaurs, marsupials and labyrinthodont on p. 213. The final chapters on marine sediments and oceanographic instruments are excellent, both authors specializing in sedimentology. Here they stress the point that many ocean processes are not well-understood, although the non-scientist reader for whom the book is intended, may have drawn the impression that most of the other subjects of the book are neatly wrapped up, completely understood, with little need for further research. But I suspect we are all guilty of this attitude, to some degree or other. The world ocean merits recommendation for fifth- and sixth-form scientists and nonscientists. The book is explicit, with an appendix explaining physical and chemical concepts, a glossary of terms used in the book, supplemented by 255 figures, tables and plates in its 338 pages, which are well indexed. The scientist student has a reading list to which he can turn to further his studies and the non-scientist will be satisfied with this book as an Introduction to oceanography. Yes, The world ocean is a good buy. KEITH ANDREWS
British Oceanographic Data Service, Institute o[ Oceanographic Sciences, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey, England.
Marine physics, R. E. CRAIG,Academic Press, 1973, 83 pp.
£1.90.
This IS a small book and aims to give an introduction to the principles of physical oceanography to people engaged in other disciplines like biology and engineering who rarely have the time to read the more extensive books on the subject. There are chapters on density currents in the sea, diffusion processes in the sea, wind currents in deep water, qualitative physical oceanography, waves in deep and shallow water, the tides, optics and acoustics. As the author remarks in the preface, the standard varies a great deal from chapter to chapter. The reviewer preferred the chapters on diffusion processes in the sea and wind currents. Here, the author presents in a very simple way the ideas and problems involved in applying the theory of turbulence to the sea, and, in my own experience, this is very difficult to get across to students of limited mathematical training. With this book, the author succeeds in his aim, and the book will be of use for supplementary reading for students proceeding in physical oceanography, although a more comprehensive work would be required as a standard textbook.
University College of North Wales, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales.
J. D ~ a Y s n u ~
869
water. This is followed by C. A. Repenning's paper on the functional morphology of underwater hearing in seals, which outlines the anatomical features of the ears of phocid and otarid seals, and of the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), in relation to the perception of sound underwater by resonant reaction and bone conduction, and to diving. The evolutionary implications of the features found in these three groups are also discussed. The comparative anatomy of the hind limbs of the river otter (Lutra canadensis), sea otter (Enhydra lutris), harp seal, California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) and walrus, is reviewed and discussed by F. J. Tarasoff with reference to locomotion, thermoregulation and grooming in a series of aquatically adapted animals. One of the two papers on whales deals with the comparative anatomy of the cetacean nervous system. There have been many general descriptions of the brain in cetaceans but few detailed quantitative studies, partly because of the practical difficulties involved in obtaining suitable material, especially from the larger whales. P. J. Morgane and M. S. Jacobs and their colleagues have now an impressive collection of specially prepared material for detailed studies of the brain of the bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). This forms the basis for the summary account of their studies presented in this paper which also refers to observations on other species where possible. The other paper, by R. J. Harrison, R. L. Brownell Jr. and R. C. Boice, reviews the available information on reproduction and the appearance of the gonads in a n u m b e r of species of the smaller toothed whales. F o r some species few data exist, but the accounts of the genera Tursiops, Lagenorhynchus, Stenella and Delphinus present the authors' own observations, listing data for individual animals and providing a substantial amount of important new information. All of the above papers are valuable, up-to-date accounts of their subjects. F o r good measure, Professor Harrison's preface includes a sketch of the history of anatomical studies on marine mammals and reminds us of workers ranging from Belon in the sixteenth century, to Brazier Howell and Slijper in the twentieth. Present workers in this field will look forward to the appearance of further volumes in this important series. S. G. BROWN
Whale Research Unit, Institute of Oceanographic Research, c/ o British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD.
T h e w o r l d ocean: an i n t r o d u c t i o n to o c e a n o g r a p h y , by WILLIAM A. ANIKOUCHINE and RICHARD
W. STERNBERG, Prentice Hall, 338 pp. £6.00 18 )< 24 era. MANY OCEANOGRAPHERS, and particularly those who teach the subject, find a need to publish their own version of an introduction to oceanography. A wide variety of texts is now available, but few of these works are suitable for 'students without backgrounds in science'. Dr. Anikouchine and Professor Sternberg have compiled a text from their lectures, and PrenticeHall have produced a book with board covers, stitched and glued with headers, embossed with silver lettering and with as presentable a binding as one could wish for in these days of the paperback. The figures, m a n y in three tone, formal, modern, lower case chapter headings and contents list, clear text type face, wide margins and pleasant layout, give an overall impression of artistic clarity albeit the proof-reader has allowed a few spelling mistakes. That there is a need for this book cannot be denied. The multidisciplinary nature of the subject has led school teachers up nightmare alley, searching the book catalogues for an all-embracing introduction to the subject, while oceanographic librarians, have. until this book was published, been unable to quote a single book tide with 15 chapters, appendix, glossary and auxiliary reading list, on all aspects of oceanography. The subject matter, after a general introduction, gives the dimensions of the oceans, their morphology, bathymetry and an historical view of the origin of ocean basins, with sections on sea floor spreading, plate tectonics and 22 references to follow up the generalities of the text. Chemistry in 18 pages and physical properties in 13, with only five references, not all relevant, are the weakest sections of the book, but these are followed u p with a clear, concise oceanic circulation, 21 pages, waves, 15 pages, both containing short relevant reading lists, although celerity replacing speed in the wave formula seems a mistake for the non-scientist. The chapter on tides, the best in the book. but also the longest, 25 pages, and inshore oceanography at
870
Book Reviews
22 pages, lead us to the biological section covered in three chapters or 55 pages. Here there are some careless places, Plate VII F and the photograph on p. 207 being printed upside down and incorrect spellings of ichthyosaurs, marsupials and labyrinthodont on p. 213. The final chapters on marine sediments and oceanographic instruments are excellent, both authors specializing in sedimentology. Here they stress the point that many ocean processes are not well-understood, although the non-scientist reader for whom the book is intended, may have drawn the impression that most of the other subjects of the book are neatly wrapped up, completely understood, with little need for further research. But I suspect we are all guilty of this attitude, to some degree or other. The world ocean merits recommendation for fifth- and sixth-form scientists and nonscientists. The book is explicit, with an appendix explaining physical and chemical concepts, a glossary of terms used in the book, supplemented by 255 figures, tables and plates in its 338 pages, which are well indexed. The scientist student has a reading list to which he can turn to further his studies and the non-scientist will be satisfied with this book as an Introduction to oceanography. Yes, The world ocean is a good buy. KEITH ANDREWS
British Oceanographic Data Service, Institute o[ Oceanographic Sciences, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey, England.
Marine physics, R. E. CRAIG,Academic Press, 1973, 83 pp.
£1.90.
This IS a small book and aims to give an introduction to the principles of physical oceanography to people engaged in other disciplines like biology and engineering who rarely have the time to read the more extensive books on the subject. There are chapters on density currents in the sea, diffusion processes in the sea, wind currents in deep water, qualitative physical oceanography, waves in deep and shallow water, the tides, optics and acoustics. As the author remarks in the preface, the standard varies a great deal from chapter to chapter. The reviewer preferred the chapters on diffusion processes in the sea and wind currents. Here, the author presents in a very simple way the ideas and problems involved in applying the theory of turbulence to the sea, and, in my own experience, this is very difficult to get across to students of limited mathematical training. With this book, the author succeeds in his aim, and the book will be of use for supplementary reading for students proceeding in physical oceanography, although a more comprehensive work would be required as a standard textbook.
University College of North Wales, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales.
J. D ~ a Y s n u ~