student and researcher in biochemical and biophysical marine biology. The contents of this relatively small volume should add to and enrich basic knowledge of marine hiochemistry and biophysics in five specialized and related areas. The authors have succeeded in producing informative and comprehensively documented reviews. The selectivity refleets the experience and point of view of each author. There is a n excellent choice of examples and citations from the literature with same exceptions noted below. The chapter of Maetz on adaptation in hypo-osmotic and hyper-osmotic environments includes well over 500 references, but is limited to vertebrates and invertebrates that are primary aquatic organisms. I t is a useful review for those wishing togo further into the subject. Throughout, there is a comparative approach which can be helpful t o workers in related fields. Fox provides a comprehensive review of the literature on marine hiochromes through the late fifties. The broad generalizations are made possible by FOX'Smany years of firsthand experience at one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions. Color from physical processes such as light scattering and interference. as well as from o. i..w e n t s is discussed hriefly. The rarotenoida are discuised in relarlonshq to the bird*, fishes, tunicatw. cru*tacenns, molluscs, echinoderms, ruelmterates, porifera, and sediments. Quinones, indolic pigments, melanins, tetrapyrroles, hilichromes, and hemocyanins are also treated. Omitted is important research in the sixties and current decade: e x . Weedon's contributions t o the carotenoid pigments such as fucoxantbin; Seheuer on the pigments of echinoderms; Strain's work on chlorophyll c and peridinim; Sutherland's structure elucidation of the precursor of Tyrian purple. Reference also could have made of the more recent and updated hook by Thomson on naturally occurring quinones (p. 191). Utter, Hodgins, and Allendorf have written a brief review of biochemical genetics studies of fishes using electrophoretic methods that should be scrutinized by anyone planning such work. The chapter presents an excellent introduction to contemporary work. It would he valuable for f ~ hbreeders, h fish geneticists, and fish biochemists as well as for those seeking an entry into the pertinent literature. The authors show the reader the promise and problems of biochemical genetic variants in fish culture, hybridization, cytogenetics, and linkage studies. Bilinski's selective treatment of hiochemical aspects of fish locomotion will he of interest t o students of comparative biochemi s t ~The . e m ~ h a s i sis olaced an the differencis existingbetweenhsh and mammals in the energy supplying metabolisms. Dewier reports on an area that has been progressing a t an accelerated rate. He surveys the cold marine environments, the freezing problem encountered by both vertebrates and invertebrates. and the mechanisms of coping with the prohlem Fascinating inform n t m i i provided on glgeq>rolain, w h ~ r h protect many of the nnrnrctw flshrs from freezing by producing a substantial lowering of the freezing point.
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Harry Zeitlin University of Hawaii Homiollu. Hawaii 96822
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Computers for Speclrorcoplats Edited by R. A. Corrington. Halsted Press, New York, 1915. xiv + 275 pp. Figs. and tables. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $35. This book was compiled by the UltraViolet Spectrometry Group and as such is comprised of 12 chapters written by 12 different authors. Any time sueh d i v & t y in authorship is utilized, some overlap of topics and redundancy exists. However. the editor. Mr. ~arrindan..has - . done an admirable ioh id coordinatine the whole. The hook is divided ~~
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very elementary, introduction into the world of computers. The first chapter informs the reader as to the ways a computer can he used in spectroscopy in a fairly superficial way. This chapter makes we of block diagrams showing how computers interact with the instrumentation. The second chapter describes the computer and is a fairly goad introduction into the workings of a computer. This is a very interesting chapter for those totally uninitiated in eomouter teehnoloev. "Chaoter 3 concerns the loeic of cornnuters. ~..~. 1t desciibes the waycomputers add, subtract, and perform logical steps. Once again, this is a very interesting chapter for those with little computer background. The next chapter concerns itself with computer languages and is an excellent introduction into the growth of the higher forms of computer language sueh as Fortran from themore fundamental languages sueh as assembly language and machine language. Examples are used in this chapter t o illustrate each type of language. Unfortunately, the example used most often (six times) contains errors on three separate occasions. Although these errors are minor, they could certainly lead the reader astray. Even with these rather disastrous errors, this chapter represents one of the best basic treatments on computer languages which I have read. The next chapter is an introduction into the way that the computer interacts with instruments. Chapter 6 is one of the better chapters in the hook. Further, i t is one of the few well documented chapters in the book. This is one of my major complaints concerning the hook; there is very little documentation. Many chapters have no references or recommendations far further reading. However, this chapter on the artificial intelligence in mass spectroscopy is an excellent discussion on how the computer can be utilized to make intelligent decisions and not simply as a data-crunching device. Section 2 is comprised of more or less spedficapplications in which the computerhas found general use in spectroscopy. Chapter 7 is a discussion of the need and use of eomputerr in Fourier tran\furm qprrtroscopy. Chapter X dlrcusies uliliraticm of an uffline rmhputer and Chapter 9 dwurses online systems and introduces the user to interfacing the computer with laboratory instrumentation. Chapters 10 and 11 both discuss specific applications of mini-computer controlled instrumentation. These chapters are very useful for those contemplating the purchase of minicomputers in their own laboratories. ~~
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There is much information concerning the strategy of computer choice for a laboratory. All in all, I would recommend this hook for those people who know little or nothing concerning computer usage with analytical instrumentation and to those contemplating the purchase of computers for the first time in their laboratory. My major complaint with this book concerns 1) the lack of documentation, and 2) in a very few cases, the somewhat commercial approach by authors associated with companies selling either computer or spectroscopy equipment. M. L. Parsons Arizona State University Tempe. Arizona 8526 1
Essential Aspects of Mass Spectrometry Alberto fiigerio, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy. Edited by Roy Corrington, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy. Spectrum Puhlications, Inc., Flushing, New Yark, 1974 121 pp. (Halsted Press, New York). a Figs. and tables. 23 X 16 cm. $7.95.
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I hi? h m f monograph on the applica~ions maas spertnmetry i i intrnded 11, be read by the nonspecialist who uses mass spectrometry for identification, structure elucidation, or molecular weight determination. The book provides sufficient basic information on the mechanism of mass soeetrometer rrnctims tho1 every chemist or h~ochcmiit w ~ t hthe stnndnnl traming in orannw chrm~ s tc qan undrnrnnd the inwrprcrn~amd t h e mass spectraof the samples that he has suhmitted for analysis. A cursory nonmathematical description of the various types of mass spectrometers is eiven toacauaint the reader with the current
