Description

FROM THE GENERAL PREFACE: This multivolume work, The Mollusca, had its origins in the mid 1960s with the publication of two volumes entitled Physiology of Mollusca and edited by Wilbur and Yonge. In those volumes, 27 authors collaborated to summarize the status of the conventional topics of physiology as well as biochemistry, reproduction and development, and ecology. Within the past two decades, there has been a remarkable burgeoning of molluscan research generally and with it the development of new fields of investigation. During the same period, several excellent books on molluscs have appeared. However, they do not provide adequate information on the many recent advances or give the breadth of perspective of current knowledge of the phylum. Clearly, there was need for a larger work with a comprehensive treatment of major areas of molluscan research. The Mollusca, as a series of 12 volumes, attempts to fulfill this objective. Even here, practical considerations have meant that certain aspects of molluscan research have not been included.
Each major area is treated by several authors, each reviewing his or her special field. The areas are structure and function, metabolic biochemistry, molecular biomechanics, environmental biochemistry, physiology, ecology, reproduction and development, neurobiology and behavior, and evolution. Throughout, the authors have given emphasis to recent advances and present status of molluscan biology. In so doing, directions of future researc