The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation.

Dr. Walls has written a comprehensive treatise on the vertebrate eye in which he includes and correlates an immense amount of data on the anatomy and physiology of the eye in relation to the various environments in which it functions. The 689 pages of text are very readable, appealing to the interests of the biologist, clinician or lay reader, and constitute, therefore, as the author intended, rather a textbook on the eye than merely a reference source. There are three major divisions of the text. The first, entitled "Basic," consists of a discussion of the anatomy and histology of the human eye and orbit. Adequate material on the structure of the retina is followed by a clear and welcome discussion of the theories of the visual processes, including color vision. In addition there is a brief résumé of the development of the eye. The second division concerns itself with ocular