Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia Vol 5

This beautiful book is a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the state of knowledge of the Mollusca of Australia. It is a compilation of contributions, in the form of whole or parts of chapters, from 70 authors of high standing in their subjects and from many countries, mainly but not wholly from the English speaking world. The scale of this undertaking is reflected not only in the need to publish this volume in two parts but also, sadly, by the decease of 5 of the contributors, among them Vera Fretter, Tom Thompson and Alan Solem prior to publication.

Part A covers an overview of the Phylum Mollusca, and the Classes Aplacophora, Polyplacophora, Bivalvia, Scaphopoda, and Cephalopoda. Part B is concerned solely with the Gastropoda. The scope of the overview is all inclusive. Starting with a definition and general description, it covers not only classification but also the history of discovery of Australian Mollusca, their morphology and physiology, molluscan life histories, ecology (molluscs on rocky shores, coral reefs, marine and estuarine sediments, pelagic molluscs, molluscs on land and in inland waters), economic significance for good and bad, distribution and biogeographic relationships, the fossil record, methods of study and conservation. This last section is particularly welcome, coming as it does when the conservation of Mollusca deserves a higher profile within the general need to conserve biodiversity as a whole.

For the rest of the book each major division generally follows the same plan as the overview from definition and general description through to ecology and related topics (grouped as natural history), then descending levels of classification in each class, down to family level. The layout of the book appears to have been arranged for ease of access rather than to adhere faithfully to the classification adopted (in, for instance, figures 1.4 and 14.1). This is particularly noticeable in the Gastropoda, where the chapter headings - "Prosobranchs", "Opisthobranchia", and "Pulmonata", all not further qualified, derive from the "traditional "classification.

The book is outstanding in terms of presentation; the vast majority of pages have one or more black and white text figures or photographs; nearly all of these are of very high quality, though the contrast between background and subject could have been better in one or two photographs, like Figures 1.61 and 1.70. There is a colour photograph frontispiece, and there are 37 superb colour plates, mostly with 5 or 6 figures each, inter- leaving the pages before chapter 1 and grouped in the centre of each part.

At each level from Phylum down to Family there is a summary of current knowledge and key works, using information from outside the Australian fauna where necessary. A word of caution here; the preface says (:v), of illustrations, that these are based on Australian material unless indicated otherwise; this will not always be immediately obvious to readers not familiar with the Australian or extra-Australian faunas and the literature cited; see for example Figure 4.22. Different views and interpretations are included, with sources cited throughout. A bibliography is given at the end of each chapter, the "flier" claiming citation of 7700 papers in the primary literature. There is a useful glossary at the end of Part B, as well as a unified index which covers both the various levels of taxa and the subjects (including, for example, pioneer malacologists) referred to in the text. A particularly welcome feature is the listing of all taxa above genus level for certain selected subjects such as diversity, endemism (in Australia) and the fossil record.

An immense amount of information is given concisely and readably and users should have no difficulty in understanding it or finding out where to go for further detail. Given the number of contributing authors the uniformity of presentation is outstanding even though, inevitably, there are bound to be slight unevenness of treatment, and occa- sional minor errors. An example of the first is the minimal reference to the fossil record in the Pholadoidea and a relatively full treatment of that for the Nautiloidea. For examples of the second, the reference to Histoire Animaux sans Vertebres on page 7 should read Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertebres and the first P initial in the index entry for Lamarck should be a B; the specific name in the caption Nanamoria strophon for Figure 1.101 C should be strophodon [from Valuta strophodon McCoy, 1876]; Figure 14.18 D not C is after Solem 1974 [see The Shell Makers: 179 Figure 5 (b)] and I was puzzled by the paragraph on Conidae on page 854 which includes "The oldest Australian fossils are Oligocene ...... Three Australian Eocene species extend into the Miocene ......" But this is by way of minor disappointment rather than serious criticism.

I do not know of any recent book on Mollusca which covers so much ground and is relevant not only in the specific region covered but also worldwide except perhaps for cold regions. It will be indispensable as work of reference for many years and is a great credit to all who contributed to its making. All institutions in any way concerned with malacology, or the fauna of Australia, should acquire it, and individuals should not be put off by the price when you consider it is over 1200 packed pages; I wasn't, and I am proud to have a copy.