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the selection of material to be rather poor---e.g. Table A2 on assimilation is based on one paper only. All the material on biomass covers little useful data, Table A 17 on C/N/P ratios is inadequate. I am unable to recognise the meaning of B/Biomass ratio in Table A 10 or of threshold density in Table A 109. Some other titles are not well written or are unexplained. The great difficulty is the lack of comparability of results given in each Table when based on data from different authors. There is no attempt made to evaluate the data.

Environmental studies use data from several disciplines and it is difficult to set a border line up between such fields as toxicology, physiology, physics, etc. I found several Tables to be misplaced in their chapters and sections, e.g. data on oxygen are found in Part E, data on community structure in Part F. Data on the atmosphere are found in many places and are not confined to Chapter G2 which is supposedly devoted to it. Some reorganisation would have been helpful.

Much of the data included are problem-, experiment- and site-specific and the columns on "Conditions" are not detailed enough for evaluation.

The very detailed index is a strong feature of the handbook. However, the lack of pagination, despite the inclusion of Table numbers, makes the search for specific information time-consuming. The contents section also lacks page numbers. Chapters D2 and D3 are reversed in the contents and the text and the title page of Chapter G4 is missing while the remaining two chapters are incorrectly numbered. Although I am not native English-speaking, the number of linguistic and typographical errors I am able to recognise in the very scanty text is surprising and begins in the list of contents.

Summarising, the handbook of environmental data is a useful attempt to cover an important gap in the environmental literature. The book is to be recommended to both practical and theoretical environmentalists of all disciplines. It is to be hoped that the inadequacies of the present edition will be eliminated in the future. It should also lead to more critical evaluation of the existing environmental data.

M. STRASKRABA

Developments in Deep-sea Biology. By N. B. Marshall.Blandford Press, Poole, Dorset, Great Britain. 170 Figs, 2 colour plates, 566 pp.

Considerable advances in the understanding of the deep-sea environment and the biology of the organisms found there have taken place since Professor Marshall's review Aspects of Deep-sea Biology, published in 1954. This eagerly anticipated sequel provides an authoritative and up-to-date survey of these developments, written in a style which cannot fail to convey the infectious enthusiasm of the author for the subject.

Thirteen chapters range across aspects of the ecosystem divided into sections

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devoted to descriptions of the flora and fauna which inhabit the water column and the sea-floor, food webs, the physiological aspects such as buoyancy, bio- luminescence, sensory systems and reproductive strategies and the ecological aspects of biogeography. An introductory chapter sets the scene, supported by another which describes the environment. Throughout, the whole volume is illustrated with clear informative line drawings. Two coiour plates of deep-sea fish enliven the publication and reflect the author's life-long interest in this phylum.

It is clear that giant strides have been made during the past 30 years but, even so, Professor Marshall emphasises that much research remains to be carried out. it is only during the recent past that effective quantitative sampling equipment, particularly that for the benthos, has been developed. Modern equipment has enabled a more reliable investigation of the occurrence and distribution of the fauna which has proved to exhibit an unexpectedly high species diversity within the minifaunal and meiofaunal groups. The relatively brief account about life histories and reproductive strategies is indicative of the marked paucity of good biological data about the deep-sea fauna.

Typically, Professor Marshall finishes his account with a pointer for the future by drawing on observations made thus far of the genetic variability exhibited by widely distributed species and suggests that investigation of the deep-sea ecosystem may well provide results that enable fundamental ecological principles to be deduced about evolutionary processes.

Det,eloprnents in Deep-sea Biology is a valuable contribution to marine biological research and should become a reference text in its field.

MARTIN WHITE