Graptolites : writing in the rocks /

Graptolites the word derives from the Greek for writing in stone are fossil marine invertebrates that lived in the Paleozoic Era, about 500 to 240 million years ago. Whether they left the living members of the phylum Hemichordata as descendants or died out without issue continues to vex paleontologists. This book, written by members of the British and Irish Graptolite Group (whose acronymic logo is a graptolite shaped like a BIG-G), summarizes the current status of knowledge of graptolites verbally and in more than 100 full-page photographs. In concise, felicitously written chapters, it covers graptolite classification, structure, stratigraphy, geographic distribution, inferences on mode of life and ecology, and evolutionary patterns. The book is quite accessible to the undergraduate interested in paleontology, but, not unexpectedly, it has a decided British tilt. Although graptolites have their share of anatomical jargon, terms are defined when introduced and the first of seven appendixes is a clearly written glossary; the others list worldwide collecting sites, references, and researchers past and present who have shed light on these enigmatic fossils.-A. J. Kohn, University of Washington