BOOK REVIEWS
RADIATIO~ AND RADIOISOTOPESApPLIED TO INSECTS OF
AGRICULTURALIMPORTANCE.Proceedings of a Symposium, Athens, April 22-26, 1963, jointly organized by
the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Food
and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
In 1960 the International Atomic Energy Agency organized an International
Symposium on Radiation and
Radioisotopes in Entomology, which was held in Bombay, India. Extensive interest and new research data in
this field led to the second symposium held at Athens,
Greece, in 1963. That there exists a keen interest in, and
rapid development of, the use of radioisotopes and techniques is evident in the 37 papers presented at this
Symposium, which was attended by 100 participants
from 26 countries and 5 international organizations.
The Symposium itself and the Proceedings were organized into 6 sections:
(I) Insect Ecology: Tracer
Applications (9 papers);
(II) Labeled Insecticide Studies: Techniques (3 papers);
(III) Labeled Insecticide
Studies: Toxicology and Residues (8 papers):
(IV)
Insect Metabolism:
Tracer Applications
(2 papers);
(V) Radiation Studies: Principles and Application of
the Sterile-Male Technique (4 papers) ; and (VI) Radiation Studies: Specific Effects (10 papers). Each paper
is preceded by abstracts in English, French, Russian, and
Spanish and followed by the discussions which followed
the presentation of the paper. A list of participants and
an author index and subject index are included in the
Proceedings.
Entomologists interested in basic and applied research
and control techniques will find the Proceedings of this
Symposium an extremely valuable reference.
and related compounds and radiotracer studies on the
metabolism of organophosphate
insecticides by plants.
This volume is an exceIlent source of references and
information on the use of radioisotopes and ionizing
radiation in entomology. Since most of the studies on
radioisotopes and radiation in entomology have occurred
in the years covered by this bibliography, this publication
is of great value. Early references can be traced in abstracts in bibliography. The IAEA plans to follow this
bibliography with further surveys, each dealing with a
specialized aspect, to keep the information up to date.
This bibliography is exceptionally well done and wiII be
of value to entomologists in general and those especially
interested in radioisotopes and radiation.
DONALDE. \VEIDHAAS
Entomology Research Division
Agric. Res. Serv., U.s.D.A.
GUIDE TO LATIN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
PERIODICALS:AN ANNOTATEDLIST, prepared and publishtd by the Division of Science Development of the
Pan-American
Union and the Centro de Documentacion Cientifica y Tecnica de Mexico, 1962. 187 pp.,
paperback, $4.00.
It is a well known and sometimes deplored fact that
new scientific periodicals are being issued constantly. It
is also well known and often deplored that the contents
of these periodicals are not generally available to scientists. The majority of these publications are appearing
in cou:1tries only recently productive of sufficient research
to justify a local periodical: particularly
countries in
Asia and Latin America.
DONALDE. WEIDHAAS
EHtomofogy Research Division
Agric. Res. Serv., U.s.D.A.
The first necessary step to discovering what is being
published in these journals is to discover what t11ey are.
The Introduction of the small book reviewed here points
out that significant scientific work is being done in
RADIOISOTOPES
AND IONIZDi'G RADIATIONSIN ENTOMOL- Latin America, but that this work is often done in isolation. One reason for the isolation is that Latin American
OGY,Bibliographic Series No.9, International Atomic
journals (of which more than 100 are listed here) are
Energy Agency, Vienna, 1963, STIjPUB/21/9
comnot widely known. This book therefore fills a very real
piled by M. Binggeli, 414 pages
need, in listing the scientific periodicals now being issued
This volume is a bibliographic survey on radioisotopes
in South and Central America and in Me..xico.
and radiation in entomology undertaken by the InternaThe list of periodicals is divided into major categories,
tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and published as
as follows: Exact Sciences and Earth Sciences, Biological
a fully annotated bibliography covering an ll-year period
Sciences, Medical Sciences and Public Haalth, Agriculfrom 1950-60. It was compiled from a search of the
tural Sciences, and Engineering Sciences and Technolopen literature including secondary sources such as abogy. In addition, there are at the beginning a section on
stracting journals, reference listings, surveys, books, and
"Selected Latin American Bibliographies" and a list of
reports and some direct correspondence with scientists.
51 periodicals dealing generally with the physical and/or
An essential part of the compilation consisted of conbiological sciences. Finally, there is an Index listing
sulting and, where necessary, asbtracting original papers,
the 1141 journals by country, and a statistical Appendix.
reviews and reports, and following up references cited.
As a result of this research 1577 references with abThe journals are listed alphabetically within each catestracts are presented. An effort was made to include
gory and for each entry the following information is
more detail and information in references that may be given, as far as this was known: the type of article
difficult to obtain, than in those that are more readily
accepted and the subject matter dealt with; requirements
obtainable. No claim of completeness is made, although
of authors (membership in the publishing society, etc.)
the bibliography contains all pertinent references that
and languages accepted; whether the journal publishes
could be traced.
bibliographies and summaries;
its cost (in local currency), availability on exchange, present editor, date of
This bibliography is well organized for use by interfirst pt:blication, frequency of publication, former titles,
ested scientists. It is divided into two main parts: (1)
pagination and indexing practices, page- and reprintradioisotopes and (2) ionizing radiation, with appropriate subheadings which allow ready referral to areas of charges, and by which of the standard abstracting services it .is covered. (The statistical Appendix at the end
special interest.
Papers are cross-referenced
and an
author index as well as a subject index is included. A analyzes these topics.) One lack is some indication of
what United States libraries take the journal, but recent
special addendum on radioisotope and ionizing radiation
supplen:ents of the Union List are of help here.
studies with nematodes also is included. FinaIly, an appendix summarizes dispersal and flight-range studies with
The entries of interest to entomologists are primarily
radioactive-marked
insects, sterilization, and effects of those under Biological Sciences: Zoology, Entomology;
radiation on insects of medical importance, references for
and those under Agricultural
Sciences: General, and
the synthesis of some radiolabeled organic insecticides
Agronomy. 38 journals are listed under Zoology, Ento114
mology, of which 7 are completely or predominantly entomological. The agricultural periodicals are more general, although several are also primarily entomological.
Spanish (or Portuguese)
is by far the most common
language, but most of the journals accept papers written
in English and nearly all publish summaries in English,
French, or German.
Fourteen of the 38 Zoology, Entomology titles, and 44
of the 100 Agricultural:
General, and Agronomy, titles
are abstracted by standard abstracting services (Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, World Fisheries Abstracts, etc.). This is a regrettably low percentage of
coverage.
Some of the journals are old and well established ones
already familiar to biologists (e.g., Acta Zoologica Lil·
loan a, and the publications of national entomological
societies).
Others seem less firmly based, having appeared only occasionally in the last few years and/or
been written entirely by their editors. Many of the
periodicals are published by universities and are available on exchange. It well behooves American universities publishing similar periodicals to consider receiving
these Latin American journals;
and it well behooves
entomologists in general to become aware of the work
being published from this rich faunal region.
CARL W. SCHAEFER
Department of Biology
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn 10, New York
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY,
Volume 9, 1964. Ray
F. Smith, University of California, Editor. 390 pp.
Published by Annual Reviews, Inc., Palo Alto. California, in cooperation with the Entomological Society
of America. Cloth $8.50 USA, $9.00 elsewhere.
Like the preceding volumes this one consists of articles
that review developments in a wide range of entomological fields. There are 16 papers by invited authors of
various countries, each article an authoritative and interesting story by itself, as said so well by the Editorial
Committee in the Preface to tins volume enabling "all of
us to keep abreast of what our colleagues are doing, and
helping to break down the insulating barriers between
the different disciplines applied to entomology." In an
era of increasing specialization, with less and less time
and opportunity to follow developments in related fields
with their overwhelming and growing volume of literature, such a work as this is a boon to individual entomologists. The care and thoroughness with which the
16 papers were prepared are indicated by the long list
of publications under "Literature Cited" at the end of
each article, the number of references ranging from 55
to 288. Titles and authors of the papers comprising this
volume are: "The Role of Linnaeus in the Advancement
of Entomology," Robert L. Usinger, University of California, 16 pp.; "Intraspecific Competition and the Regulation of Insect Numbers," H. Klomp, Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands, 24 pp.; "The Influence of Man on Insect Ecology in Arid Zones," E.
Rivnay, The National and University Institute of Agriculture, Rehovot, Israel, 22 pp. ; "Water Regulation in
Insects," L. B. Barton-Browne, Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organization,
Canberra, Australia, 20 pp.; "Retinal Structures and Photoreception,"
Philip Ruck, University of Wisconsin, 20 pp.; "Insect
Antennae," Dietrich Schneider, Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fiir Psychiatrie, Max-Planck Institut, Munich, Germany, 20 pp.; "Evolution, Classification and Host Relationships of Siphonaptera," G. P. Holland, Entomology
Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture,
Ottawa, Canada, 24 pp.; "Bionomics of Collembola,"
Kenneth Christiansen, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa,
32 pp.; "Pathophysiology in the Insect," Mauro E. Martignoni, University of California, 28 pp.; "Anomalies and
Diseases of the Queen Honey Bee," W. Fyg, Dairy Research Institute, Liebefeld-Berne,
Switzerland,
18 pp.;
"The Biological Control of Weeds," Frank Wilson,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Canberra, Australia, 20 pp.; "The Epidemiology of Filariasis due to Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia
malayi," J. F. B. Edeson and T. Wilson, Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, England, 24 pp.;
"Insect Chemosterilants,"
Carroll N. Smith, Germaine
C. LaBrecque, and Alexej B. Borkovec, Entomology Research Division, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Orlando, Florida, 16 pp.; "Problems Relating to Application of Agricultural O1emicals and Resulting Drift Residues," Norman B. Akesson and \Nesley E. Yates, University of California, 34 pp.; "Floricultural Entomology,"
John A. Naegele, Cornell University, and R. N. Jefferson, University of California, 22 pp.; "Comparative Bionomics in the Genus M1Isca," G. Sacca, Instituto Superiore de Sanita, Rome, Italy, 18 pp. The volume concludes with author and subject indexes, and cumulative
indexes to contributing authors and chapter titles of
volumes 1-9.
C. F. W. MUESEDECK
U. S. National Museum
INSECTSIN RELATIONTO PLANT DISEASE, by \;\falter Carter. First Edition. Interscience Publishers, John Wiley
& Sons, New York & London. 705 pp. 1962.
"Insects in Relation to Plant Disease" is not a te:<tbook that compiles the knowledge presented earlier in
similar books or reviews, nor it it a complete summary
of literature.
This volume is the result of a life-long
interest of an outstanding
research entomologist and
teacher, whose wide interests and incessant collection of
information, own experiments, discussions with colleagues
and thoughtful reading, made this impressive work possible. It is a unique source of information, a real gold
mine of research ideas for future investigations, stimulating and sometimes provocative. Through his masterful
presentation of subjects, many of what are as yet unsolved problems or areas that have been neglected in
the past, the author presents a challenging, highly critical, often controversial, but always interesting, discussion
of the three main subjects of this book.
The first subject deals with bacterial and fungal plant
pathogens transmitted by insects. There has been no
other work compiling this subject since the publication
of Leach in 1940. More recently the transmission of
microbial pathogens by insects has become better understood and numerous new aspects have been added to the
literature.
These new additions are aptly discussed in
the chapters on bacterial and fungal pathogens. In addition, a comprehensive presentation of various pathogenic
microorganisms, the specialized vector-bacteria
relationships, and the symbiotic associations between insects and
fungi are given special attention.
The second subject of the book deals with insect toxins, one of Carter's life-long interests. On 152 pages, the
reader finds a detailed description of localized toxic effects, primary malformations,
and systemic phytotoxemias. Included in the latter is an authoritative discussion of mealybug wilt of pineapple. This disease has
been studied by Carter since 1930 and recent results have
led him to a reappraisal of the etiology of the wilt disease. The author believes that in addition to an actual
wilt-inducing secretion, the mealybugs transmit a "latent
factor," separate and distinct from the toxin. Presumably wilt can be induced only by the combined action of
the two factors. If Carter's term "positive source" were
substituted by "virus source," the conclusions would conform with the virus etiology of pineapple wilt, postulated
by virus workers. It would also help to understand the
sometimes obscure and unconventional conclusions of this
chapter.
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