Anim. Behav., 1988,36, 1560-1565

Book Reviews

The Evolution of Vertebrate Design. By LEONARD RADINSKY. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press (1987). Pp. x i+ 188. Price $12.95 paper- back.

Leonard Radinsky was in the process of revising the manuscript for this book when he died in 1985. Those who saw the book through to publication have done a fine service for us and for Radinsky's memory. Although developed from Radinsky's introductory course for University of Chicago undergraduates not majoring in biology, the book still contains novel insights, and the writing and illustration are exemplary. It begins with introduc- tory chapters on fossils, phylogeny, methods in functional analysis, evolutionary processes, and the basic elements of vertebrate bodies. Subsequent chapters roughly follow the scala naturae: five concern fish, two treat amphibians, five are on reptiles and three are on mammals. Birds are relegated to a portion of the chapter on reptilian flight.

Throughout, Radinsky emphasizes the functio- nal significance of evolutionary changes in anato- mical structure. Nevertheless, he does not ignore non-adaptive evolutionary possibilities, and he frequently points out anatomical features or pat- terns whose functional bases, if any, are still unclear. Musculoskeletal systems receive most of the attention. The consequent focus on locomotory and feeding adaptations reflects Radinsky's desire to integrate vertebrate palaeontology and functio- nal morphology. Dennis Green's illustrations nicely complement the text: nearly all of the drawings are well scaled to the page, with large, clear labels and a sensible economy of detail.

I f I were to use this book for a class, I would want to compensate for what I consider to be a few weaknesses or omissions. (1) The presentation of relevant mechanical principles is almost entirely verbal--some illustrations might have further clarified the ideas. (2) Although it is rare for students in non-major courses to go beyond the text, it still would have been good to provide more specific references for inquisitive readers (or for their instructors) who might want to pursue par- ticular points made in the text. (3) The question of how vertebrates first evolved is practically ignored. The place of the vertebrates in the animal kingdom as a whole deserves some discussion. (4) I would have appreciated more discussion of exactly what the term 'design' means. The publisher's prefatory note equates design with form, but the word

'design' connotes conscious purpose. Lauder (1982) has defined biological design as the functio- nal organization of structure. If the functional basis of a structural arrangement is uncertain, should we call it a design? Can we call a group's anatomy its design if more than functional effects contributed to its morphological evolution? I wonder if Radinsky himself was responsible for the use of design in the book title and in the chapter titles, since the word rarely appears in the text's narrative, and when it does appear it is usually in specific reference to biomechanical design analysis, the method of analysing form as if it had been consciously designed for optimizing some function.

The book will surely have wide appeal even if courses like Radinsky's are rare. It could serve as an auxiliary text for courses in general biology, evolution and palaeontology, and also for com- parative anatomy courses using a more traditional book as the primary text. It will be of good value for biologists in other specialities (e.g. behaviour- istsl) who want an accessible reference covering the highlights of vertebrate evolutionary history and functional morphology. I will consult the book in preparing functional anatomy lectures or when I otherwise need a quick refresher on groups (like ostracoderms) that are far from my daily concern.

Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A.

RICHARD A. KILTIE

Reference

Lauder, G. V. 1982. Historical biology and the problem of design. J. theor. Biol., 97, 57-67.

The Evolution of Sex. Edited by RICHARD E. MICHOD & BRUCE R. LEVIN. Sunderland, Massa- chusetts: Sinauer (1988). Pp. ix+342. Price $55.00 hardback, $29.95 paperback.

Why is sexual reproduction so prevalent and whence its features? This book consists of 17 chapters addressing questions of the origins and adaptive functions of sex. In a 1978 monograph with the same title, Maynard Smith maintained that speculations about the origins of sexual repro- duction and genetic recombination were untestable and that the only tractable issues concerned the

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evolutionary forces that maintain them. In 1988, various theoretical accounts of precisely those origins are being debated, including several vari- ants on the idea that recombinatorial processes evolved as means for repairing damaged DNA. (Hickey & Rose argue that the sexual fusion of genomically diverse cells is an adaptation 'not of the organisms or cells themselves' but of cytoplas- mic genes which achieve infectious transmission thereby!) These scenarios are more than just-so stories, for proponents and critics alike are con- cerned to identify and test their implications for such specifics as the physical chemistry of DNA damage and repair, the adaptive functioning of diploid versus haploid organisms, variability in recombination rates, and the steps in meiosis.

The editors and at least half the contributors would have the focal issue be what sex is 'for': DNA repair or the production of variable progeny? Ghiselin protests (page 19) that the question should instead be 'What selective influences are respon- sible for the various kinds of life cycles', but although several others clearly agree, explicitly comparative analysis is virtually lacking. Brooks' chapter documents substantial genetic variation for recombination rates in natural populations and reviews population genetical models bearing on the evolution of such rates. The leading (only?) theory addressing the ecological bases of variable recom- bination rates is apparently still the 'Red Queen' hypothesis that rapidly evolving pathogens select for novel recombinations in their hosts; Seger & Hamilton discuss this theory (and others endorse it in brief asides), but no author in the present book reviews the comparative evidence bearing on it. Trivers provides the most stimulating novel attempt to account for diversity in a sexual pheno- menon, remarking the ubiquity of sex differences in meiotic recombination rates and arguing that more intense sexual selection favours greater linkage. (This reviewer is unsure the theory can work, for if a male is exceptionally fit by virtue of an exceptio- nal set of genes, is that set any likelier to be of uniparental origin, and hence protected by linkage, than to require recombination for its transmis- sion?)

Typos are few, but at least one may be seriously confusing, namely the substitution of 'brood para- sites' for 'blood parasites' (page 280). Cognitive ethologists will be heartened to learn about 'phage- meditated recombination' (page 250). The biblio- graphy (conveniently unified) manages to include complete journal references up to July 1987, less than 6 months before the present volume became available.

This book's topic is of fundamental relevance to our understanding of reproduction, of individua-

lity and genetic diversity, and hence of sociality. Nevertheless, animal behaviourists will find most of the discussion rather far removed from their main fields of interest.

MARTIN DALY Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L85 4KI, Canada.

Reference

Maynard Smith, J. 1978. Evolution of Sex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Biological Aspects of Human Migration. Edited by C. G. N. MASCIE-TAYLOR & G. W. LASKER. Cambridge University Press (1988). Pp. viii + 263. Price £30.

I read this collection of papers with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the volume is an excellent review of the consequences of human migration. On the other hand, I was disappointed by the areas covered.

As the publishers had sent their book to Animal Behaviour for review, I presumed the volume would be: (1) concerned with behaviour; and (2) of general relevance to students of animal migration. My expectation, therefore, was a treatise dealing with the behavioural biology of human migration. Potential subjects were, for example: gender differ- ences in pre-reproductive explorations; territoria- lity as limitation and stimulus; and perhaps even the navigational mechanisms by which humans achieved their migrations before the days of printed maps and roadsigns. At the very least, I was expecting human migration to be discussed in the context of the migrations of other animals.

In fact, the book offers something quite different. It is written primarily by and for population geneticists and anthropologists, not behavioural ecologists. It is concerned, not with migration behaviour, but with migration's genetic, medical and social consequences. No attempt is made to place the study of human migration in the context of other animals. Even so, I found one, rather personal, reason to draw the book to the general attention of students of animal migration.

In their Introduction, Lasker & Mascie-Taylor casually define migration, first as ' s i m p l y . . . move- ment of individuals . . . ' and later as 'changes of residence'. A few years ago, I tried to show (Baker 1978, 1982) that, to their own detriment, students of migration had lost the benefits of the compara-