Owls, Caves and Fossils.

Predation, Preservation, and Accumulation of Small Mammal Bones in

Caves, with an Analysis of the Peistocene Cave Faunas from Westbury-Sub-Mendip, Somerset,
UK by Peter Andrews
Review by: Pat Shipman
The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Dec., 1991), p. 483
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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DECEMBER 1991 NEW BIOLOGICALBOOKS
He helpfully provides pronunciation guides to all
complex names except his own.
A separate chapter explains the rationale and
linguistic base for biological nomenclature, and
includes a reasoned discussion about the desirabil-
ity of avoiding excessive jargon. Cvancara de-
scribes the qualities that make a good paleontolo-
gist (or any scientist for that matter), and lists the
educational steps required, even including a list of
universities where paleontology may be studied
(sorry, no colleges). Topical cases are described,
including cladistics of seed plants, Bakkerian dino-
saur metabolism, arctic dinosaurs, Wolfe's ac-
count of plants as Cenozoic climatic indicators,
punctuated equilibria, and asteroid impacts. In
each case, alternative explanations are advanced
so that the importance of debate is emphasized.
Various "hows" of collecting are presented, and
field etiquette and ethics, respect for private land,
and the importance of documentation are empha-
sized. A discussion of how to publish a scientific
paper seems unnecessary for the target audience. I
believe the importance of amateur paleontological
organizations should have been introduced here.
This is an engaging personal account of the sci-
ence of paleontology that could potentially lure a
high school student or a nonmajor college student
into a career in paleontology. It could also be read
with pleasure and profit by amateur fossil collec-
tors.
PETER DODSON, VeterinaryMedicine, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PALEONTOLOGY
OWLS, CAVES AND FOSSILS. Predation, Preservation, sils and Strata, Number 28.
and Accumulation of Small Mammal Bones in Caves,
with an Analysis of the Pleistocene Cave Faunas from
Westbury-sub-Mendip,Somerset, UK.
By PeterAndrews,-scanning electronmicroscopybyJill
Cook. The Universityof ChicagoPress, Chicago(Illi-
nois). $39.95. viii + 231 p.; ill.; index. ISBN:
0-226-02037-1. 1990.
I am delighted to agree with the jacket copy: this
book will take its place among the classics of tapho-
nomy.
Andrews has done a masterful job of summa-
rizing, compiling and intelligently discussing the
existing literature on small mammal faunas and
their accumulation. A generous dollop of his orig-
inal work is added to this comprehensive review.
Much of this original work is previously unpub-
lished, and is pertinent and valuable. The book is
literate, rich with data, and satisfying in its applica- years ago.
tion of those data. Throughout, Andrews's descrip-
This content downloaded from 128.171.57.189 on Fri, 9 Aug 2013 12:03:51 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
483
tions are coupled with photographs, elegant draw-
ings of birds and animals, and attractive charts and
tables that promise to be an invaluable aid to any
researcher wishing to deduce the taphonomy of
any small mammal assemblage.
The book may be conveniently considered to
have two parts, the more general (Chapters 1-4,
Appendix), and the more particular (Chapters 5-7).
Chapter 1 introduces small mammal taphonomy,
discussing many of the agencies at work and their
effects, in general. The second chapter details the
effects of various predators and their activities,
while more data on the predator-induced modifica-
tions to bones can be found in Chapter 3. (Addi-
tional information on the predators, their ecology
and behavior is given in the Appendix.) Chapter
4 takes up the issue of cave formation processes
and how this influences the taphonomy of cave
assemblages, using Westbury-sub-Mendip as a
model.
In Chapter 5, the book turns to a detailed geo-
logical description of Westbury-sub-Mendip, and
begins to resemble a monograph or site report. In
Chapter 6, data on the small mammal faunas from
Westbury are presented. These data serve as the
basis of paleoecological reconstruction in the clos-
ing chapter, using the Taxonomic Habitat Index
(THI) that Evans, Van Couvering and Andrews
first developed in 1981.
This beautiful book belongs on every taphono-
mist's shelf and will be welcome in the libraries of
many naturalists and ornithologists as well.
PAT SHIPMAN, Cell Biology & Anatomy, TheJohns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore,
Maryland
UPPER CAMBRIAN CONODONTS FROM SWEDEN. Fos-
ByKlausj. Mullerand IngeloreHinz. Universitetsfor-
laget, Oslo. Price not available (paper). 153 p.;
ill.; no index. ISBN: 82-00-37475-0. 1991.
SOLNHOFEN: A STUDY IN MESOZOIC PALAEONTOLOGY.
By K. W. Barthel,N. H. M. Swinburne,and S. Con-
way Morris,-translatedand revisedbyN. H. M. Swin-
burne. Cambridge University Press, Cambridgeand
New York.$59.50. ix + 236 p.; ill.; general and
systematic indexes. ISBN: 0-521-33344-X.
[Originally published in German as Solnhofen:
Ein Blick in die Erdgeschichte,1978.] 1990.
The Solnhofen limestone is the best known fossil
lagerstaitten, an accumulation of remarkably pre-
served fossils, in the world. The world's oldest bird,
Archaeopteryx,was discovered in this unit over 130
The exceptionally uniform, fine grain of the