Fossils

Fossils are the remains of animals or plants that are preserved in the rocks. lt is very unusual for
complete organisms to be preserved and fossils usually represent the hard parts such as bones,
shells or tests of animals and the leaves. seeds or woody parts of plants. Fossils may be internal
moulds (for example most of the ammonites shown here on pages 250 to 259). external moulds
(for example brachiopods on pages 270 to 279) or the original material impregnated with
chemicals from the surrounding rocks (for example vertebrates on pages 302 to 309).
Alternatively they may be indirect evidence of life in the past such as footprints, burrows or
borings. These are called trace fossils and with the exception of the borings of Teredo (page 262)
they are not dealt with in this book. Most trace fossils, however, are readily identifiable by
reference to similar phenomena in modern environments.

Fossils are found in most sedimentary rocks and are particularly common in limestones and some
shales. The majority of fossils represent aquatic animals, as conditions for preservation are
usually better in aquatic environments than on land. In many cases terrestrial animals and plants
are preserved only in aquatic sediments, either in the sea, rivers, lakes or estuaries. For example,
fossil land mammals are often found in the same deposits as fish, crocodile and turtle remains,
which indicates aquatic conditions at the time of deposition. How fossils are formed Remains of
soft-bodied organisms are known, and even jellyfish may be fossilized in very special conditions.
The vast majority of fossils, however, consist only of the hard parts of the organism, and in
general the possession of such hard parts may be regarded as an essential prerequisite for
fossilization. Even the hardest parts of an organism will be broken down or dispersed if they are
exposed to scavenging animals, bacterial action or the weather, and for fossilization to occur it is
essential that these factors be excluded; rapid burial shortly after the death of the organism
usually ensures this.

The medium in which the remains are buried may vary widely but the commonest materials are
muds, Sand and volcanic ash. Some of the more Spectacular fossils result from preservation in
special conditions, for example insects preserved in amber (page 292), which is itself fossils
ressin, the Complete mammoths preserved in the permanently frozen ground of Siberia, or the
hundreds of thousands of mammal bones preserved in the tarpits of California.

Many remains of Caenozoic invertebrates and vertebrates represent the original material of the
animal. it is often unchanged chemically or may simply be impregnated with minerals, such as
silica or calcite, that enter in solution from the surrounding sediments. This process tends to
increase the weight and the hardness of the fossil and is known aspen/faction, Alternatively
chemical Changes may occur in the material of the remains leading to recrystallization. This
rarely affects the appearance of the fossil but may totally alter the fine structure. In many cases,
especially in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossils, the original material of the organism may have
been entirely dissolved away. This tends to leave a space in the consolidated sediments that may
become occupied by minerals from the surrounding rocks-a process known as replacement. If
this occurs gradually as the original molecules of the remains are dissolved away, then the fine
structure of the organism will be preserved. lf the solution of the original material is rapid,
however. and replacement is not immediate. then the original structure will be lost although the
original external appearance may be retained. Some replaced fossils are very beautiful especially
if the replacing material is silica or some of the iron compounds such as pyrite (Iron sulphide). In
some cases the tisses of the organism may be converted Into a film of carbon-a process known as
carbonization. The results of this process are well demonstrated here by some of the plants (page
214 to 22 ) and the graptolites(page 280). Names almost all living animals and be well known
popular names which may relatively precise, referring only to a single kind of animal or plant
over a large area. On the other hand, fossils are rarely familiar enough to have acquired popular
names and those few that are well known are generally vague. usually referring to large groups,
for example ammonites and dinosaurs. Popular names are not used scientifically as they have
three important disadvantages. Firstly, they are imprecise and may refer to quite different animals
or plants in different areas: secondly, they are not international but differ in other languages: and
thirdly, many rarer animals and plants and the majority of fossils have never received popular
names. To overcome this each organism, either modem or fossil, has a scientific name which is
in Latin or is a Latinized form of a word from another language. The disadvantage of scientific
names is that many of them are long and difficult to pronounce or remember. This is a minor
objection, however, in the face of their many advantages. Scientific names are international and
are therefore the same to scientists of every nationality; they are precise and define exactly the
kind of organism referred to; and there is a name for every known organism. lf a new form is
discovered a name is created by the worker who first publishes its description.

Animals and plants are grouped in several categories which indicate their degree of relationship,
one to another, and some of these categories are used or mentioned in this section of the book.
Each animal or plant belongs to a species. This is a group of very similar individuals that have
the potential to interbreed freely to produce fertile offspring, but are unable to breed successfully
with members of other species. There are a few example of animals and more examples of plants
in which the species boundaries seem to break down, allowing successful breeding between
members of different species. These are except one, however, and successful breeding is not
possible between members of the large majority of different species. The scientific name for
species consists of two parts, i.e. it is a binomial, with a generic name followed by a generic
name followed by a trivial or specific name, for example homo sapiens. The specific name is
always used in conjunction with the generic name and is meaningless when used alone. The
generic name refers to the genus which IS a group of species that are generally similar and are
fairly closely related. Forexample,the genus Equus (horseS) includes several species such as the
domestic horse Equus caba//us, the wild ass Equus asinus and the zebra Equus zebra. Members
of these three species are clearly very similar in general appearance, anatomy, way of life and
behaviour, but differ in minor features such as their colour and details of their anatomy. Note that
the generic and specific names are always printed in italics (or underlined when writing and
typing). The generic name always begins with a capital letter and may be used alone to refer to
the genus.

Genera are grouped into families which are major groups of generally similar organisms, for
example the Felidae, which includes all the cat-like animals such as the domestic cat, lynx, tiger,
lion, mountain lion, cheetah and Jaguar. Family names are not printed in italics but may be easily
identified as they'always end with the letters 'ae'. Families are grouped into orders the members
of which differ in many important features from members of other orders. For example, the order
Carnivora includes the flesh-eating mammals such as the cats, weasels hyaenas, dogs and
raccoons. Mem-l bers of the Carnivora differ in ma Obvious features from members ofny major
order of plant-eating mamm la ilmi; as the Artiodactyla which ian?
U es the D'QS, deer, giraffes and antelopes. The nam f printed in ital’ eso orders are not easil 'd ' '
ics and are not aIWGVS Withyal entifiable. They always begin end erhag'rtealgittef and ”…si Of
them means always tehrea , but this is by no names of higher case. and several the sam
.Categories also have

e ending SpeCim glOUped on the basi ens are several parts of th' S Of‘ Orders In book. For
exam | IS" section Of the (pages 232 trie, … the brVOzoans orders chDtOSto 237) the fOUr
Cyclostomata a rgata' TrepOStomata, used. Orders aren CheHO-thomata are and several of
S'OUped IntO classes For example f t ese are referred to

, our classes of mollu ' scs