Behavior and Its Neural Control in Gastropod Molluscs

During the past quarter century, there has been a tremendous expansion in our knowledge about gastropods, their behavior and their neurobiology. We can understand a great deal about mammalian nervous systems by studying the relatively larger and simpler structure of the gastropod nervous system. Behavior and Its Neural Control in Gastropod Molluscs first reviews the broader aspects of molluscan biology and draws attention to the special features of the gastropod nervous system. The book then examines different types of behavior, reviewing progress in understanding the mechanisms of neural control, and emphasizing cases in which control can be attributed to identified neurons and identified neural circuits.

Ronald Chase is Professor Emeritus at McGill University in Montreal. He received a B.A. degree from Stanford University, dropped out of Harvard Law School, and later earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After postdoctoral research in Munich and Seattle, he moved to Montreal in 1971, where he taught neurobiology in the Department of Biology at McGill University. During his research career of 38 years, he published over 80 peer-reviewed articles on snail brains and snail sex. In addition to Behavior and its Neural Control in Gastropod Molluscs, Dr. Chase has written three books about mental illness: The Physical Basis of Mental Illness, Schizophrenia: A Brother Finds Answers in Biological Science, and The Making of Modern Psychiatry.