Insects as a group occupy a middle ground in the biosphere between bac teria and viruses at one extreme, amphibians and mammals at the other. The size and general nature of insects present special problems to the student of entomology. For example, many commercially available in struments are geared to measure in grams, while the forces commonly en countered in studying insects are in the milligram range. Therefore, tech the study of insects or in those fields concerned with niques developed in the control of insect pests are often unique. Methods for measuring things are common to all sciences. Advances sometimes depend more on how something was done than on what was measured; indeed a given field often progresses from one technique to another as new methods are discovered, developed, and modified. Just as often, some of these techniques find their way into the classroom when the problems involved have been sufficiently ironed out to permit students to master the manipulations in a few laboratory periods. Many specialized techniques are confined to one specific research labo ratory. Although methods may be considered commonplace where they are used, in another context even the simplest procedures may save con siderable time. It is the purpose of this series (1) to report new develop ments in methodology, (2) to reveal sources of groups who have dealt with and solved particular entomological problems, and (3) to describe ex periments which might be applicable for use in biology laboratory courses."

The intermediary metabolism of small molecules is the meat and potatoes of cell function. The pathways and modes of obtaining energy, degradation and utilization of exogenous organic nutrients, and formation of the building blocks of the main macromolecules were a major focus of research in biology from the turn of the 20th century into the 1970s. Other matters have come to prominence, but the field is active, with interesting problems that are central to biology and medicine. Molecular biology developed through the use of one bacterium, Eschericha coli, with the saying "What's true for E. coli is true for elephants." In recent years, an analogous workhorse has been the eukaryotic microbe baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, used in many studies of cell biology common to multicellular organisms. This single-volume handbook explains metabolism as based on Saccharomyces. The topics include central metabolic pathways; catabolism; fermentation; respiration; biosynthesis of small molecules including cofactors; the metabolism of lipids, polysaccharides, and storage molecules; inorganic ions; transport and compartments; the global analysis of metabolism; and issues of metabolic toxicity. The book is expected to be used in courses and as a handbook or reference book for research investigators.