Book

pesticides, promoted by vigorous TV and other advertising aimed at the unsuspecting general public. "

The publication of these Proceedings will provide a variety of references for researchers in this aspect of pesticide appli- cation, but will be of little interest to laymen. What is needed is a pr&is of the most important information in the Proceedings and written in a style which will make it more generally available to those more directly concerned with the day-to-day use of pesti, cides.

EVAN THORNHILL

Windborne Pests and Diseases: Meteor- ology of Airborne Organisms , by David Pedgley; ISBN 0-85372-312-8 (250 pp; £22.50). Chichester: Ellis Horwood Ltd., New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1982.

This unique and useful little book, written by an experienced meteorologist for biolo- gists, explains the influence of the atmos- phere on the windborne movement of small organisms, bringing together aspects of applied entomology, plant pathology, botany, meteorology, and even veterinary science in an illuminating and convincingly embracing way.

In three chapters, the author explains how weather affects the initial launching of active and passive organisms into the air, how they stay airborne and are moved by wind sys- tems. Three more chapters concentrate on insect flight within the boundary layer where they have considerable control over their direction of movement, above the boundary layer where they have much less, and on the phenomenon of swarm formation. Natur- ally, with his background of tropical ento- mology, the author draws heavily on exam- ples from locusts and migrating moths, but the subject matter remains balanced and nicely spread over other taxonomic groups and geographical areas where the informa- tion is available. There is another chapter on dispersion and concentration, and a final short coverage of forecasting pests, diseases and allergens. A little more emphasis on forecasting from such an experienced fore- caster would have been welcome here.

reviews 509

Perhaps the book's most attractive feature is that it brings at least four disciplines of applied biology together under a physical umbrella, so will help to break down the isolationism that often develops between scientific colleagues studying different aspects of growing the same crop success- fully. I recommend it as well worth perusing.

TREVOR LEWIS

Biochemis t ry and Physiology o f Herbi - cide Action, by Carl Fedtke. ISBN 3-540-11231-6 (ISBN 0-387-11236-6 in USA). (xi+202 pp; DM 156.00; £37.00; US $69.30). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer- Verlag. 1982.

The publication of Carl Fedtke's book on herbicide action is welcomed. There have been several books and reviews concerned with herbicide chemistry and mode of action in the last decade (see page 14). However, these have tended to be concerned either with detailed aspects of specific modes of action or are generalized reviews that are lengthy and often wordy. Fedtke's book is slim and presents a lot of detailed informa- tion in a lucid and concise manner.

The book consists of 12 sections. The first two introductory sections cover 'Approaches to and Definitions of the Mechanism of Action of Herbicides' and 'Plant Metabo- l ism--A Synopsis of Principles'. These are succinct statements covering in only 18 pages the problems behind rationalizing the different approaches of biochemists, physio- logists and other scientists to the under- standing of the primary points of herbicide action. These introductory sections would be strengthened by a short statement explaining why certain herbicides are in- cluded and others excluded from the book. For example, there are over 500 different chemicals recorded as having interesting levels of herbicidal activity, but less than half of these (c. 180) are commercially available. This book covers only 193 chemicals includ- ing many that have never been commercially available. In particular, there are no refer- ences to bromofenoxim, oxadiazon and pyri- date which are herbicides unusual in their specificity and mechanisms of action and surely deserve inclusion in such a book.