Water Development and Management, Parts 1.2.3.4. Series editorAsit K. Biswas. Pp. 2646. Pergamon Press, Oxford. f200.00.

These four volumes contain some--but by no means all&of the documents prepared for the United Nations Water Conference held at Mar de1 Plata, Argentina in March 1977. Broadly, Part 1 contains four major basic papers and the recommendations of the Conference, Parts 2 and 3 contain five regional reports and 26 supporting papers, mainly from UN Specialized Agencies, but some invited from individuals or groups; while Part 4 is devoted to the thematic papers contributed by participating countries. Most of these are in short abstract form, but the 48 which are published in full vary from general national reviews of water resources to descriptions of particular local problems and projects, with a few more theoretical papers.

The supporting papers in Parts 2 and 3 provide information and guidance on such matters as agricultural requirements; assessment of resources; law; pricing policies; appropriate technology; and many others, with most emphasis on planning and management. Part 3 also presents a 108.page bibliography and a glossary of water management containing 1257 terms. The latter, however, is almost useless to a busy reader, since the items are not in alphabetical order and are not grouped or classified in any way.

Indeed, the volumes as a whole suffer from a lack of editorial guidance in the form of an index or classification of subjects. The complete list of paper titles is given in each volume, but most of them have no indication of the source of authorship of the paper, and the reader is left with a lot of work to do to find the topics that interest him. Nevertheless, there is a wealth of factual material here, which will repay study and will provide an essential base for future national and international development of the world’s resources of water.

F. E. Bruce

Geothermal Energy by H. Christopher H. Armstead. Pp. xxvii + 357. Spon, London.

1978. f 10.50.

The author of this book is an engineer with over twenty years experience in the design of surface plant for geothermal systems. His presentation is naturally weighted towards the surface engineering aspects, and as such complements the majority of available books on geothermal energy which have tended to concentrate on the geological phenomena.

The chapters on the ‘below-ground’ aspects arc the weakest, but nevertheless meet the author’s stated aim of providing ‘a fairly broad idea of what geothermal energy is all about.’ Overall the book provides a very useful introduction to the subject for the technically educated non-specialist. The emphasis is on those developments in which most experience has been gained, the use of natural steam for power generation, but the direct uses of lower temperature water sources and the future prospects for ‘hot dry rock’ are also discussed.

The value of the book as a work of reference is ensured by its clear presentation with 134

extensive use of diagrams and tables, a list of 200 literature references and an index occupying 33 columns. It can be expected to become a standard addition to all libraries with an interest in energy matters.

J. D. Garnish

The Northern Great Barrier ReefA Royal Society Discussion. Pp. 364. The Royal Society, London. 1978. f32.00 (UK)

f33.00 (overseas).

Coral reefs are important for their biological interest, as indicators of ecological conditions, as indices of vertical movements of land and sea and-in the geological record-as reservoirs for hydrocarbons. This report of the 1976 symposium, based on the 1973 Royal Society and Universities of Queensland Expedition, provides a wealth of new data on the northern part of the world’s largest modern reef complex.

Previous investigations of reefs were dominantly biological, but the 1973 expedition had the advantage of a considerable range of new physical methods in determining the history of development through the last 6000 years. Perhaps chief among these was radio- carbon dating, which has provided a new precision in establishing the sequence of events independently of spatial relationships. In addition seismic, sedimentological, and geomorphological techniques, and drilling were all deployed.

The continental shelf of north-eastern Australia has subsided slowly and fairly continuously since the mid-Tertiary. Reef growth has taken place over most of this period, interrupted by sea level variations which are correlated with the glacial periods of the northern hemisphere. The last major still- stand was approximately 6000 B.P.; since then sea level changes have been on a relatively small scale. The symposium documents in detail the sedimentology and episodic history of reef growth related to vertical movements which are of world-wide significance in understanding development of other types of coast. For those concerned with reefs, both modern and ancient, this is a volume of major importance.

P. E. Kent

Aquatic Pollutante. Traneformation and Biological Effects. Edited by 0. Hutzinger,

L. H. van Lelyveldand B.C.J. Zoeteman. Pp. 5 19. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 19 78.

f30.00.

The book contains the papers presented at the Second International Symposium on Aquatic Pollutants, held in September 1977 at Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. The emphasis at the Symposium was on those anthropogenic micropollutants that are difficult to remove by most conventional methods. They are resistant to biodegradation, tend to concentrate as they move up the food chain; and often are toxic. According to the editors, the three-day symposium was ‘roughly divided’ into three categories: Sources of pollutants, analytical methods, data banks and the natural background of organic compounds; Transport, biodegradation,

photodegradation and related transformations; and Biological and toxicological effects.

The book contains 46 papers on a wide variety of topics. It would have been useful to the readers had these papers been subdivided into different categories, and the editors had provided a short introduction at the beginning of each category. For example, if some one is interested in the legal and regulatory aspects of the problem, there are two interesting papers- one on the scientific aspects of the chemical substances law in ‘Japan and the other on European regulatory actions relating to aquatic pollutants. In between these two are two papers on metabolism and laboratory microcosms for use in determining pollutant stress.

The book contains an index which is useful. However, in the case of the two legal and regulatory papers mentioned earlier, there are no listings under ‘law,’ ‘Japan,’ ‘Regulation’, or ‘Regulatory Action.’ In spite of these minor shortcomings, the book is a useful addition to the expanding scientific literature on this important topic.

Asit K. Biswas

The Reptile Ear. Ite Structure and Function by Ernest Glen Wever. Pp.

xxv + 1025. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1978. f33.30.

This substantial book, based on years of research by a distinguished auditory physiologist and his collaborators, reflects the great advances which have been made in recent years throughout the field of herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.

Unlike many physiologists, Wever is well aware of the necessity for integrating structure with function, and he surveys the anatomy of the outer, middle and inner ears in all the main groups of living reptiles, with special emphasis on the lizards. His functionally orientated account of such complex structures as the extracolumella and the cochlear duct is particularly welcome. Much space is naturally devoted to Wever’s electrophysiological experiments, by which he has been able to assess the auditory sensitivity of various reptiles. The crocodilians and certain geckos appear to have the best hearing, as might be expected from the importance of sound in their social lives. The snakes, long regarded by naturalists as virtually deaf, are in fact quite sensitive to a narrow range of low-frequency, air-borne sounds. There is a good bibliography, and the book is well illustrated by many diagrams and drawings.

This book throws much light on a somewhat recondite subject, and is an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of the life of reptiles.

A. d’A. Bellairs

Leuepeian Migration. The Influx of Red Sea Biota into the Mediterranean by Way of the Suez Canal by Francis D. Por. Pp. 228. Springer. Berlin. 19 78. DM 64 ($32.00).

When the Suez Canal was opened in 1869 certain authorities expected there would follow mixing between the biota of the Mediterranean