Effects of Ionizing Radiations on Immune Processes

establishment of new neural connections rather than the modification of existing sets. Blinded octopuses can acquire certain kinds of discriminations based upon tactile or chemical stimulation. The results of a textual discrimination experiment with grooved cylinders suggest that the "discrimination of the topographical features of objects touched may be based simply upon the proportion of sense organs excited in the contact areas" (p. 83). The remainder of the monograph is devoted in large part first to a detailed description of the brain and central nervous system of Cephalopods and then to electrical stimulation and brain lesion experiments which attempt to relate brain structure to motoric behavior and to visual and tactile learning. Broadly speaking, animals such as Octopus vulgaris appear to have two independent learning mechanisms, with the exception of the vertical lobe; the optic, superior frontal and vertical lobes are concerned with visual recognition while the inferior frontal-subfrontal-vertical lobe system is concerned with chemo-tactile learning. The vertical lobe is, in addition, apparently involved in memory capacity. The book is tersely written in a scholarly and lucid style; it is profusely illustrated with data and diagrams drawn by the author. I would recommend it highly to anyone seriously interested in invertebrate biology or behavior.