"Presents the phenomenon of cell division in normal somatic cells and then compares this process to that which occurs during the formation of germ cells. In both types of division, the DNA is duplicated long before there is any visible indiction that division is about to occur. The principal chartacteristics that distinguish a meiotic process from a mitotic one is that each of the four cells resulting from meiosis has exactly one-half the number of chromosomes and one-half the nuclear DNA than is present in the four cells resulting from two mitotic divisions. " - Summary from Worldcat.

Part of the "Biology" series.