There is no multicellular animal whose genetics is so well understood as
Drosophila melanogaster. An increasing number of biologists have,
therefore, turned to the fruitfly in pursuit of such diverse areas as
the molecular biology of eukaryotic cells, development and neurobiology.
Indeed there are signs that Dro- sophila may soon become the most
central organism in biqlogy for genetic analysis of complex problems.
The papers in this collection were presented at a conference on
Development and Behavior of Drosophila held at the Tata Insti- tute of
Fundamental Research from 19th to 22nd December, 1979. The volume
reflects the commonly shared belief of the participants that Drosophila
has as much to contribute to biology in the future as it has in the
past. We hope it will be of interest not merely to Dro- sophilists but
to all biologists. We thank Chetan Premani, Anil Gupta, K.S. Krishnan,
Veronica Rodrigues, Hemant Chikermane and K.Vijay Raghavan for help with
recording and transcription of the proceedings and Vrinda Nabar and K.V.
Hareesh for editorial assistance. We thank Samuel Richman, Thomas
Schmidt-Glenewinkel and T.R. Venkatesh for their valuable assistance in
proofreading the manuscripts, and we also thank Patricia Rank for her
excellent effort in the preparation of the final manuscripts. The
conference was supported by a grant from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.