Embryology: Constructing the Organism

Embryology texts are most frequently organized in one of two ways depending on their intended purpose. Undergraduate texts are usually structured such that their sequence mimics the stages of embryolog-ical development. This, of course, makes sense, as it follows the method used by most instructors and allows one to rapidly locate information about a specific event of development. Unless, that is, one is seeking information on a specific organism. For this, only those texts that deal with the development of a single organism are truly helpful. Embryology, edited by has an organization that lies in between these two approaches. The text begins with two chapters that introduce basic aspects of embryology. The first is on the fundamentals of meta-zoan development and the second introduces "the concept of larvae." After chapter two, as the editors point out in the introduction, the book need not be read in any particular order, for each subsequent chapter covers the complete embryology of a specific group of organisms. The text is divided into seven sections: one each for the introduction, primitive multicellular organisms, radiate animal phyla, and plants, and three sections for bilateral animal phyla. The known details of the development of a representative organism, or organisms, for a given phylum, subphy-lum, etc., are discussed in twenty-three chapters. The chapters are each written by different authors who have unfortunately not utilized a common sequence or headings. While this makes comparative study difficult using this text, the information for each chapter is referenced in a single, comprehensive, index, and the chapters themselves are quite detailed.