The Mollusca, Volume 4: physiology, Part 1, provides an overview of the state of knowledge in molluscan physiology. It is part of a multivolume treatise that covers the fields of biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, reproduction and development, evolution, ecology, medical aspects, and structure. The Mollusca is intended to serve a range of disciplines: biological, biochemical, paleontological, and medical. As a source of information on the current status of molluscan research, it should prove useful to researchers of the Mollusca and other phyla, as well as to teachers and qualified graduate students. The book begins with a discussion of molluscan muscle cells and intercellular connections. Separate chapters follow on the neuromuscular transmission and excitation-contraction coupling in mollusks; the biochemical and structural aspects of molluscan muscle; molluscan locomotion; cellular mechanisms of periostracum formation; shell formation and repair; molluscan endocrinology; and physiological energetics of marine mollusks.