Reprint Series W /~»T ¥7 "IVT^l? 18 May 1990, Volume 248, pp. 898-899 OvJ-lLllL/EJ

Cephalopodologie

CLYDE F. E. ROPER

Copyright © 1990 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Cephalopodologie work to be outdated, Portmann abandoned the notes and wrote a 200-page manuscript, which he submitted in 1954. Because the Traits de Zoologie. Anatomic, Systcmatique, recendy submitted gastropod and bivalve Biologic. PIERRE P. GRASSE, Ed. Tome 5, fasci- manuscripts ran to 4600 pages, Grasse re- cule 4, Cephalopodes. KATHARINA. MANGOLD, quired that the cephalopod section be in- Ed. Masson, Paris, 1989. 804 pp. F1100. creased to 400, a task the displeased Port- Comprehensive reference works frequent- mann was unwilling to undertake until the ly require a number of years to compile, are early 1960s. The resurgence of research on eagerly awaited by specialists, and once pub- cephalopods then prompted Portmann to lished gradually come into general use by enlist Katharina Mangold, a former student researchers, educators, and students. The and established cephalopod specialist at La- volumes of The inaugurated by boratoire Arago, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France, Libbie Hyman in 1940 provide an excellent to incorporate the new literature into the example of such a history, as does the classic manuscript. By the time one section was Traite de Zoologie directed by Pierre P. updated, preceding ones had become obso- Grasse. lete, and, as the objective of the Traite was to Among works of such lengthy gestation be "comprehensive," the project became the present installment of the Traite surely locked in a cycle of updates. Around 1970 holds the world record. In the 1930s the Portmann asked Mangold to be a full co- eminent Swiss zoologist Adolf Naef was author, and in 1974 when Portmann be- selected to write the volume on the Cepha- came ill Anna Bidder from Cambridge agreed lopoda, on the strength of his classic mono- to join the effort During the next few years graphs on the phylogeny, evolution, mor- the aid of other specialists was engaged. Final- phology, and embryology of these advanced ly, the now huge manuscript was submitted in invertebrates published in the preceding February 1981, nearly an order of magnitude decade. Naef began the project in 1939, but larger than was demanded by Grasse 27 years the events of history, teaching and family earlier. Additional material was added in responsibilities, and ill health conspired to proof in 1985, and the latest literature was limit the results to an accumulation of notes, added in 1987. The long gestation terminated which he submitted before his death in 1949 successfully in late 1989. to Grasse. Grdsse asked Adolf Portmann of One can justifiably ask if a work 50 years the Institute of in Basel, who was in the making can be worth the wait. In the not a cephalopod specialist, to complete the case of Cephalopodes the response is a re- work using NaePs notes. Believing NaePs sounding "Oui!" Nothing comparable to it

898 SCIENCE, VOL. 248 "busts in the cephalopod literature. The velopment of blood and coelomic systems, cephalopod volume scheduled for The Inver- respiration and circulation, the coelom and tebrates has not been completed and perhaps coelomic cavities, the excretory system, gen- never will be published, and the quantity ital organs, reproduction, and life history. and diversity of knowledge being accumu- The book concludes with chapters on em- lated on cephalopods make it unlikely that bryology, predators, parasites, geographical such a detailed and comprehensive one- distribution, fisheries, migration and vertical volume work can ever again be assembled. distribution, systematics, and, finally, evolu- The long developmental period moreover tion. Several of these last chapters are trans- enabled the book to evolve, in keeping with lations and revisions of previously published the evolution of the field, from concentra- works brought up to date by their authors. tion on systematic^ and morphology to in- These include the chapters on parasites, clude material on biology and behavior, and condensed from Hochberg's 1983 review, the expansion of authorship enhances and and on evolution, expanded from Teichert's enriches the results. presentation in The (vol. 12,1988). The French is straightforward, easily un- Even though some chapters were com- derstood; sentences are not convoluted, and pleted nearly 20 years ago, they are saved much of the terminology will be familiar to from being obsolete by updated summaries those acquainted with the literature in En- and bibliographies. I recommend that users glish. Somewhat disconcerting to the first- of this work begin each chapter with the time user of the volume will be the location summary at the end, examine the illustra- of the table of contents in the French man- tions, scan the bibliography, then read the ner on the very last pages of the book and body of the chapter. The inconvenience of the inclusion of page numbers there only in this procedure will soon be overshadowed parentheses in the listings of the subsections by recognition of the comprehensiveness of of the chapters. the text and the value of the illustrations. A short introductory chapter by Man- There comes a realization that this won- gold, Bidder, and Portmann is followed by a derful treatise will be a starting place, the detailed, well-illustrated chapter on the gen- first work to be consulted by generalists and specialists alike, for the current generation eral organization of the Cephalopoda by the and far into the next century. same authors. Next follows a series of chap- CLYDE F. E. ROPER ters on the anatomy, physiology, and func- Department of Zoology, tion of cephalopod organ systems: locomo- tion and buoyancy, the skin, the nervous National Museum of Natural History, system, sense organs, neurosecretion and endocrine organs, the digestive system, de- Washington, DC 20560

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