Tomas, C.R. (ed.) Academic Press 1997. £57. 858pp. ISBN 0-12-693018-X (Pbk).

This weighty tome is a paperback version of the combined hardbacks Marine Phytoplankton: a guide to naked flagellates and coccolithophorids (1993) and Identifying Marine Diatoms and Dinoflagellates (1996). There are four main contributions, all from recognised scientists whose work has spanned several decades. With this line-up the book promises much and doesn’t disappoint. However, anyone looking for a revised version from the hardbacks will be disappointed as the editor makes it perfectly clear from the start that “a complete revision was not possible at this time”. The editor also explains that one of the reasons for producing the paperback version, was to eliminate errors found in the hardbacks – it is true that few typographical or scientific errors still exist (or existed even in the hardbacks), although in Heimdal’s chapter some of the page references within the text refer to the hardback page numbering system and so will undoubtably cause some confusion. The editor also decided right from the start to allow each contribution to retain its own style and content, so that the chapters are suited to the needs of workers in each discipline, which bearing in mind that different techniques of collection, preparation and identification are required for each taxonomic group, this choice is understandable.

The diatom chapter by Hasle & Syvertsen is the longest contribution and a monument to the amazing career of Grethe Hasle. The chapter draws heavily on her published articles (of which only 79 are referenced in this chapter) and her experience of observing marine diatoms from every corner of the globe. As there are an enormous amount of species present in the oceans today, the authors were forced to limit themselves to selected examples of only truly planktonic diatoms. Whilst this may be slightly disappointing to some workers who are dying for a complete illustrated guide to marine diatoms (i.e. one that also includes all the brackish species that may be found in your samples), such an undertaking is probably beyond the realms of the publishing world and must wait for an ambitious person (who has nothing else to do) to stick all the information onto a CD ROM (I am waiting but not volunteering !!).

The dinoflagellate chapter by Steidinger & Tangen is presented in a similar style to the diatom chapter, with selected species being used to illustrate the most important genera. An innovative ploy used by the authors here was the use of dinoflagellate silhouettes as a means of teaching shape recognition. It seems to work well for this group and could be used for others, although silhouettes of coccospheres may not be so instructive as many are spherical and most are below 20 µm.

The marine flagellate chapter by Throndsen is presented in a different style to the previous two, as most of the flagellates are naked and do not produce mineralised or rigid structures. Thus shape may be highly variable. The species determination of this group depends more on the cell ultrastructure and the colour and composition of the pigments, and although many are rarely fossilized they may play an important role in marine processes. In this group are some of the big bloom producers and toxic algae, but it also includes some familiar organisms like the silicoflagellates and ebridians. Here, we are introduced to the somewhat amusingly named Cafeteria Fenchel & Patterson, which sadly is colourless not coffee-coloured. Unfortunately, my other favourites by the same author (Massisteria Larsen & Patterson, Toshiba Patterson & Zölffel and Kamera lens (Woodcock) Patterson & Zölffel) received no mention. I guess as we describe more and more new taxa, choosing good names and the pitfalls of homonymy will become an increasing burden, causing some to resort to naming their new species after laboratory appliances.

The coccolithophorid chapter by Heimdal provides a useful summary of the terminology, taxonomy and ecology as was known before the 1990’s. Since then coccolithophorid research, probably unlike the other 3 groups discussed here, has gone exponential, receiving funds for major international projects concerned mostly with the bloom-forming Emiliania huxleyi. Results from these projects and two coccolithophorid books have added a lot of new information. Also the taxonomy and terminology of the coccolithophorids have been recently reviewed and revised. This apart, the majority of the descriptions presented in Heimdal’s chapter are still extremely useful and so for the moment this chapter is one of the best sources of available information on species identification.

Each chapter contains its own index in addition to the one at the back of the book, and the reference lists are extensive. All chapters have lists of common synonyms, and in two of the them the terminology section has Greek and Latin derivations. Most plates contain high-quality drawings, although some electron micrographs exist, which is in keeping with one of the book’s main aims – to identify phytoplankton from water samples where possible. The cost of this book (£57) is very reasonable indeed considering its length (858 pages) and that each chapter is written by one or two of the leaders in their respective fields. The book is aimed at both experts and beginners alike, and I for one discovered a lot of interesting snippets hidden away in the text of each chapter. Admittedly, this book is for biologists, but Quaternary specialists should have a copy of this on their shelves, because many of the species illustrated here (except most of those in the flagellate chapter) have fossil records.

Richard W. Jordan, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990 Japan.