Book Reviews and Announcements

As the authors state in their Preface, “the first volume of‘Fungal Metabolites’ attempted to present a comprehensive list of the secondary metabolites of the fungi, classified according to their biosynthetic origin”. In “Fungal Metabolites II”, new metabolites are listed which have been isolated and characterized in the twelve years that have elapsed since volume I was published. It only lists new information where appropriate, frequently referring the reader back to volume I. For convenience, the authors have used the same headings and numbering in both volumes for sections dealing with similar subject matter. Like “Fungal Metabolites”, this supplementary volume is a very rich source of information for fungal physiologists and other research workers interested in fungal metabolism. In seven chapters plus an addendum, it gives the chemical names, structural formulae and sources of nearly two thousand metabolites, in addition to the text and cited literature. “Fungal Metabolites II” includes over 2500 references on a total of 90 pages. Further it contains 70 index pages with a very useful formula index, an organism index listing over 1000 fungal species, and a subject index. The lay-out of “Fungal Metabolites” is excellent, and the printing – including that of thousands of structural formulae – is most perfect.