After volume 33, this book series was replaced by the journal "Evolutionary Biology." Please visit www.springer.com/11692 for further information. Volume 30 brings readers up to date on the investigation of eminent evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists. Contributions explore such topics as Adaptation in Drosophila and the role of cytochrome P450s Population genetics and species conservation of the cheetah germ-layer theory assymetry in the mammalian skeleton genetic diversity of marine fish the phenomenon of industrial melanism the variation in lizard cranal kinesis. Other chapters focus on such issues as overdominance and its relation to higher mutation-rate estimates and the use of molecular clocks in determining the rate of nucleotide substitution in higher plants.