Book reviews

Journal of Human Evolution (1987) 16, 3 11-3 16

Development as an Evolutionary Process

Edited by Rudolf A. Raff & Elizabeth C. Raff (1987) New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc. xiv and

329 pp. ISBN 0-8451-2207-X. $58.00.

It is always exciting to read a book which attempts ifnot to answer, at least to ask, the “Big

Questions” in evolution. At present, these questions are situated neatly on the border

between genetics and embryology, where it is reasoned that the molecular genetic

dissection of embryological processes will result in a deeper understanding of the evolution

of anatomical structures. This is valid so long as evolution is causally reducible to

molecular genetics, and structure to development-and both propositions seem valid

enough given the current state of our knowledge.

Development as an Evolutionary Process is derived from a conference held in 1985, and

provides the reader with a broad overview of the molecular biology of development with

case-study data from several taxonomic groups. Most admirable is the constant return to

the theme of evolution-i.e., the implications of the particular work in question for

evolutionary problems. There are a few scattered clues, however, that the book comes

primarily from experimental molecular biologists, rather than from systematic

evolutionary biologists. The fruitfly family Drosophilidae is given a consistent extra

syllable by Seeger and Kaufman, in an otherwise excellent and comprehensible review of

the Antennapedia locus in Drosophila. (While this could be construed as a meta-joke, since

the chapter is about homeotic mutations, which add parts to flies where they shouldn’t be,

the joke itself would be out of place in this context.)

Elsewhere “macroevolution”, in a broad chapter by Raff et al., is no longer evolution

above the species level, but simply anything involving major anatomical differences, either

below or above the species level (pp. 11 l-l 12). Th’ IS of course subsumes metamorphosis,

sexual dimorphism, and polytypy. Frankly, I think it is a little late to be writing the species

out of the macro-/microevolution distinction, and it certainly trivializes the distinction

between the two if the difference is now to be based upon whether a certain anatomical

variation is substantial enough or not to be considered macroevolutionary. Valentine and

Ervin’s chapter discusses macro- and micro- in a more standard semantic framework for

evolutionary biologists.

These quibbles aside, Raff & Raff have assembled a very useful book which should be of

considerable interest for the audience of JHE, regardless of the fact that only the last

chapter by Katz mentions human evolution explicitly.

312 BOOK REVIEWS

Aspects of genome structure and their possible influences on evolution are discussed in

three chapters. Raff et al. speculate on the origins of gene families, using tubulins as a

paradigmatic example, rather than the familiar globins. McDonald et al. give a lucid

account of transposable elements generally; and Walbot et al. review the transposable

elements in corn, first discovered by Barbara McClintock decades ago.

In all, Development as an Evolutionary Process is highly successful in demonstrating the

progress made in this important sector of biology, and contains much material of interest to

any student of the evolutionary processes. The one major drawback, particularly for

graduate students of the evolutionary processes, is that this is an expensive book, although it

could be xeroxed at a considerable saving.

JON MARKS

Department of Anthropology,

Yale University,

New Hauen, CT 06520 U.S.A.

Neogene Paleontology and Geology of Sahabi

Edited by Noel T. Boaz, Ali El-Arnauti, Abdel W. Gaziry, Jean de Heinzelin & Dorothy D.

Boaz. Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York. 401 pp. 2 inserts. $175.00. ISBN O-8451-4214-3.

Sahabi is a paleontological site in Libya, North Africa. Vertebrate fossils were found there

in the 1920s and work under the direction of the Italian Carlo Petrocchi between 1934 and

1939 led to the discovery and recognition of several new vertebrate species. Research was

halted during the second World War as the activities of Field Marshal Rommel took

precedence over shovel-tusked proboscideans and their contemporaries at Sahabi.

Noel Boaz visited Sahabi with Libyan colleagues in 1975 and led his team for several

field seasons dedicated to “. . . the discovery and analysis of all aspects of the geological

history, fauna, and flora from the early Pliocene site of Sahabi, Libya” (p. ix). This volume

reports the results of fieldwork and analysis of the 4465 vertebrate fossils and 543 fossil

wood specimens recovered by the International Sahabi Research Project between 1977 and

1981.

Alan R. Liss marketing advertisements announce the Sahabi volume as a “unique

work”. It is interesting to note, however, that many of the illustrations and much of the

data, interpretation, and text found in the Sahabi volume have already been published. In

too many instances portions (including entire chapters) have been taken wholesale, often

verbatim and sometimes even unreferenced, from a little-known 1982 special issue Number

4 of the Garyounis Scientijc Bulletin (“Results from the International Sahabi Research

Project”; pp. 1-142) and from a 1983 geological pamphlet and accompanying lo-color map and chart by DeHeinzelin and El-Arnauti. Both were published by The Garyounis

University Research Center, P.O. Box 9521, Benghazi, Libya.

The book comprises an introduction by Boaz (including a primary bibliography for

Sahabi), and 25 chapters by 28 contributors from six countries. Abstracts in Arabic,

English, French and German head each chapter. Subject and taxonomic indices are included and two large inserts accompany the volume--a folded, ten-color geological map