Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology. The Crustacea, Volume 1. 2004

The much anticipated crustacean volumes of the French classic Traité de Zoologie appeared in three fascicules between 1994 and 1999. The first two were published in the format of all the earlier Traité volumes by Éditions Masson in Paris, but the third part was published as a volume of the Mémoirs de l’Institut Océanographique de Monaco after the sudden cessation of publication of the Traité by Masson. The planned fourth part is unpublished as yet. Even while the last of the French editions of this marvelous series were being put together, the idea of an English language version was being planned. All authors of the French edition chapters were thus asked to revise and update their contributions. Those not written in English were translated by J.C. and L.C. von Vaupel Klein. The first of a planned six to eight volume set was published in 2004. The editors indicate in their Preface that the outline of the French volumes would be followed for the most part. In the Traité Volume 7, Part I, there were chapters dealing with: the definition of crustaceans and their classification, segmentation, tagmosis, and appendages, morphology and biochemistry of the integument, chromatophores and pigmentation, molting, autotomy, and regeneration, allometric growth, the cytology, histology, neurohormones, and anatomy of the nervous system, sense organs other than those for vision, luminous organs and luminescence, circulatory structures, digestive anatomy and physiology, osmoregulation, endocrine organs, sexual physiology including its development, secondary sex characters, gametogenesis, fertilization, and embryological development. In short, all aspects of the biology of crustaceans, with the exception of vision and various ecological topics, that were included at the beginning of Volume 7, part 2. The English version follows this outline up to the topic of luminous organs and luminescence, but it also moves the chapter on eyes and vision to this volume to complement the chapter on nonvisual sense organs. With regard to revision and update, almost all chapters have additional authors, and the date and author of the revision is given for each chapter. The first chapter, on classification, is essentially a translation of the original French chapter by Jacques Forest (with only a discussion of important changes noted by Martin and Davis in their 2001 classification revision included). The same applies to the second chapter on segmentation, tagmata, and appendages. In this chapter, G. Scholtz added references to the bibliography at the end of the chapter that pertained to the role of Hox genes in segmentation and appendage formation, but the text is not updated to reflect this new information. While Gruner’s original text is interesting, and to a certain extent rather forward looking, e.g., with respect to his treatment of the carapace, Scholtz missed an opportunity here to truly update a subject on which there had been, as of his final revision date of 2003, a significant body of new research. The third chapter, dealing with the morphology and biochemistry of the integument, was significantly updated by Compére. Most significantly, a table was added comparing the terminologies associated with the cuticle layers in insects and crustaceans, along with a large amount of new text reviewing the proteins and other chemical constituents of the procuticle. Much of the new material in this chapter very helpfully explains the similarities between the cuticular components and structures seen in crustaceans and insects. The last section, on molt-related changes in the integument, was also substantially rewritten and is much more comprehensive. Here, too, the addition of information about insect molt changes helps to put the crustacean details into a broader perspective. For those interested in understanding the molting process, perhaps as it pertains to the supposed Superphylum Ecdysozoa, this chapter will provide a foundation against which molting in nematodes and kinorhynchs can be compared. There is then a short, more or less unmodified, chapter on chromatophores and pigmentation. Only three references post-dating the French version have been added. A simple search in PubMed (www.pubmed.gov) produced more than 40 references for ‘‘crustacean chromatophores’’ for the years between the French version and the English revision. Much more is known about hormonal and nervous control of chromatophores, for example, than is in this chapter. In particular, the large bodies of work of Fingerman and Rao are not reviewed, nor were they dealt with in the original French edition. In contrast, in Volume 9 of ‘‘The Biology of Crustacea’’, the chapter on pigmentary effectors includes three pages of references to the works of Fingerman. The fifth chapter is a long, and quite excellent treatment of molting, autotomy, and regeneration. This chapter has seen some changes in the text, some figures eliminated, and one added. Most of the text is unchanged, but additional references have been added here and there to bring the text more up to date. A quick web search of the topics in this chapter found only a small amount of additional literature, some of it having appeared after the chapter had been revised. There thus seems to be a low level of research activity in these areas, and some topics, e.g., the ultracellular details of tissue and nerve growth during limb regeneration, are in dire need of detailed work. The next chapter, on animal eyes, is here moved from what was Part 2 of Volume 7 in the French version (published in 1996) to precede the chapters on non-visual