" . . . but our knowledge is so weak that no philosoph er will ever be able to completely explore the nature of even a fly . . . " * Thornas Aquinas "In Syrnbolurn Apostolorum" 079 RSV p/96 This is a monograph on embryogenesis of the fruit fly Drosophi la melanogaster conceived as a reference book on morphology of embryonie development. A monograph of this extent and con tent is not yet available in the literature of Drosophila embryolo gy, and we believe that there is areal need for it. Thanks to the progress achieved during the last ten years in the fields of devel opmental and molecular genetics, work on Drosophila develop ment has considerably expanded creating an even greater need for the information that we present here. Our own interest for wildtype embryonie development arose several years ago, when we began to study the development of mutants. While those studies were going on we repeatedly had occasion to state in sufficiencies in the existing literature about the embryology of the wildtype, so that we undertook investigating many of these problems by ourselves. Convinced that several of our colleagues will have encountered similar difficulties we decided to publish the present monograph. Although not expressely recorded, Thomas Aquinas probably referred to the domestic fly and not to the fruit fly. Irrespective of which fly he meant, however, we know that Thomas was right in any case.

This full-color atlas graphically documents the main events of embryonic and post-embryonic development in Drosophila. Schematic surface views and transverse sections from several developmental stages are shown for the individual organs such as gut, nervous system, epidermis and musculature. By combining camera lucida tracing with digital technology, Volker Hartenstein has created a unique, beautiful and convenient reference book that will interest all developmental biologists and is a must for the personal library of anyone working on fly biology.

The fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model system to study processes of the central nervous system This book provides an overview of some major facets of recent research on Drosophila brain development.

Biology of Drosophila was first published by John Wiley and Sons in 1950. Until its appearance, no central, synthesized source of biological data on Drosophila melanogaster was available, despite the fly's importance to science for three decades. Ten years in the making, it was an immediate success and remained in print for two decades. However, original copies are now very hard to find. This facsimile edition makes available to the fly community once again its most enduring work of reference.

The different aspects of muscle development are considered from cellular, molecular and genetic viewpoints, and the text is supported by black/white and color illustrations. The book will appeal to those studying muscle development and muscle biology in any organism.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster offers the most powerful means of studying embryonic development in eukaryotes. New information from many different organ systems has accumulated rapidly in the past decade. This monograph, written by the most distinguished workers in the field, is the most authoritative and comprehensive synthesis of Drosophila developmental biology available and emphasizes the insights gained by molecular and genetic analysis. In two volumes, it is a lavishly illustrated, elegantly designed reference work illustrating principles of genetic regulation of embryogenesis that may apply to other eukaryotes.

There is no multicellular animal whose genetics is so well understood as Drosophila melanogaster. An increasing number of biologists have, therefore, turned to the fruitfly in pursuit of such diverse areas as the molecular biology of eukaryotic cells, development and neurobiology. Indeed there are signs that Dro sophila may soon become the most central organism in biqlogy for genetic analysis of complex problems. The papers in this collection were presented at a conference on Development and Behavior of Drosophila held at the Tata Insti tute of Fundamental Research from 19th to 22nd December, 1979. The volume reflects the commonly shared belief of the participants that Drosophila has as much to contribute to biology in the future as it has in the past. We hope it will be of interest not merely to Dro sophilists but to all biologists. We thank Chetan Premani, Anil Gupta, K.S. Krishnan, Veronica Rodrigues, Hemant Chikermane and K. Vijay Raghavan for help with recording and transcription of the proceedings and Vrinda Nabar and K.V. Hareesh for editorial assistance. We thank Samuel Richman, Thomas Schmidt-Glenewinkel and T.R. Venkatesh for their valuable assistance in proofreading the manuscripts, and we also thank Patricia Rank for her excellent effort in the preparation of the final manuscripts. The conference was supported by a grant from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.