[Forwarded to Conch-L list from Mollusca list:]
 
I have received--with enormous delight--my author's copies of
Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis.
 
The first impression is an aesthetic one.  The bright red and gold
covers back and front have aboriginal and aboriginal-inspired
illustrations in full color.  The end papers have a subtly shaded
photograph of a gaping tridacnid.  There are spectacular color plates
grouped at the center of each volume and as frontispieces to vol. 1.
The black-and-white ink and photographic text figures are beautifully
executed and even in quality.
 
The text goes from the general for the phylum, to the class, order,
and family and all the "super-" and "sub-" categories that pertain to
the various classes.  Each section is complete in itself, covering
anatomy, behaviour, reproduction, biogeography, taxonomy and more
than
I have listed here.  The general section on Mollusca includes as well
the fossil record, the history of malacology in Australia (how happy
I
was to find a photograph of Tom Iredale!), habitats, physiology, and
more.
 
My list is far from complete, but it should indicate that these two
volumes are basic malacological reference texts that should be in
every malacologist's library, covering the general to the particular.
The systematics are up-to-date, and include the best thinking based
on
new analyses often from cladistics (but there is no overload of
trees).  Often compendiums are uneven; not true for these carefully
edited volumes. (Just ask any author of the various chapters!)
 
This is scarcely more than an enthusiastic endorsement, not a real
review. Get your library to order the two volumes and order them for
yourself. If you teach, they will be invaluable.  You will not be
disappointed.
 
Amelie Scheltema
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA
02543 USA
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