Comparative Mammalian Cytogenetics: An International Conference at Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29August 2, 1968 [Paperback]

Ten years ago a symposium on Cytotaxonomy 'was held in London (Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 169:110, 1958) in which a first attempt was made to bring together various disciplines to discuss advances of mammalian cytogenetics and to put them into proper context with the sciences of evolution and taxonomy. The introductory remarks by \V. B. Turrill to that symposium, essentially an admonishment to be tolerant of the short? comings of our respective disciplines, would be a most appropriate begin? ning to this conference as ,,'ell. However, the meeting held at Hanover was conceived more along the lines of remarks made by R. B. Seymour Se,,'ell in his presidential address to the same society: It has been said that scientists in this search for truth are nowadays too much concerned with the accumulation of facts, and make too little use of their imagina? tion in their attempts to explain such facts as they have accumulated. (In The continental drift theory and the distribution of the Copepoda, ibid. 166:149, 1956. ) \\Tith this as a background, two years ago we held the first of a series of loosely-structured conferences on reproductive failure in the relaxing atmosphere of this small New England college community. The manu? scripts of that meeting have been published (Comparative Aspects of Re? productive Failure, Springer-Verlag New York Inc. , 1967).Species, Speciation, and Chromosomes.- The species concepts.- Reproductive isolation and chromosomal mutation.- The bottleneck of heterozygosity.- Mechanisms of Chromosomal Changes in Mammalian Speciation.- General introductio.- Numerical changes.- The Robertsonian process.- Non-Robertsonian changes.- The Mammalian Genome in Evolution and Conservation of the Original X-Linkage Group.- Importance of karyotypic differences.- Conservation of X-linkage.- Homology between non-homologues.- Summary.- Geographic Variation of Chromosome Forms in Spalax, a Subterranean Mammal of Restricted Mobility.- Distribution of Spalax, mole rats.ló'