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Bibliography of fossil vertebrates, 1959–1963
defined. Such a system of cumulative prefixes might be expected to yield names of excessive complexity; in practice this is not the case, since all prefixes designate values above, or below, some single limiting value. Care has been taken to define the categories so that the traditional terms retain their traditional meaning, insofar as t~nese have ever been precisely defined or used. If this nomenclature becomes widely adopted, it could do much to lessen the confusion inherent in the welter of special names now in use. There is clearly a fair amount of intuition involved in judging analytical quality; Leake has attempted to balance theoretical considerations, intuition and knowledge of analytical procedures to formulate criteria for separating superior from inferior analyses. He rejects some previously suggested criteria on the practical grounds that few analyses can satisfy them, or because they are contradicted by "reliable analyses". According to the resulting eight criteria, the quality of analyses has improved from 1890 to the present, a hopeful sign and one suggesting the empirical usefulness of the criteria. Finally, Leake gives a short check-list for detecting errors in calculated cell contents. The data in the tables are summarized in a series of histograms showing frequency distributions of various elements and element groups in the halfunit cell. These are broken down into ranges of Si in each case. Such histograms are biased by the choice of material to analyse, and by certain analytical difficulties; Leake points out cases where these biases are important. There is little attempt at paragenetical interpretation of these data, but the reader is referred to earlier work by the author. A chapter on chemical
relationships between amphiboles and associated minerals provides a guide to analyses for which the "coexisting" minerals have been analysed. No attempt has been made to give an exhaustive treatment. Plots are given of Mg distribution in several coexisting pairs; for the most part there is little evidence for P - T effects on Fe/Mg distribution, although Leake suggests that differences in T account for the scatter in the CPX-HBL plot. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the similarity of Mg distributions between primary pairs and between pairs in which one phase replaces the other. This book will undoubtedly find its way onto many petrologists' bookshelves, alongside Deer, Howie and Zussmann and Ernst's monograph on amphiboles. Fortunately the price is within reach, though it is still higher than what one would expect to pay for a paperbound volume of this size, published by a non-profit organization. W.L. Griffin
PALAEONTOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY C.L. Camp, H.J. Allison, R.H. Nichols and H. McGinnis (Editors), 1968. Bibliography of
Fossil Vertebrates, 1959-1963. Memoir 117, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo., 644 pp., $14.50. In many scientific disciplines, consultation of literature presents few problems. Frequently most of the pertinent material is to be found in a restricted number of journals devoted to the area concerned. Again, in various newly developing fields, papers more than a decade or two old are antiquated and of interest only to the historian of science. Quite different is the situation
in vertebrate paleontology. A borderline subject, its literature is widely scattered in journals in both biology and geology as well as a variety of other sources, such as publications of museums and surveys. Further, papers in this field do not tend to "age" rapidly. If, for example, Cuvier described and figured adequately a fossil mammal in 1796, his work is nearly as valuable today as it was more than a century ago. A major aid to those working on the paleontology of North America was the publication by O.P. Hay of a Bibliography and
Catalogue o f the Fossil Vertebrata o f North America, which covered all publications treating of North American fossils up to 1900, and a second bibliography continued the work up to 1927. Nothing comparable was available for the paleontology of other continents; to remedy this situation, I undertook, with the aid of several colleagues and assistants, to prepare a bibliography of works on nonNorth American fossils paralleling that of Hay up to 1927; this compilation, of about 40,000 titles was published by the Geological Society of America in 1962. WeU and good for the older literature. What of the increasing volume of work since 1927? Some 40 years ago Professor Charles Lewis Camp decided to keep the bibliography of the subject up to date. With the aid of a succession of fellow workers this has been accomplished. Every half-dozen years or so they have completed and published a volume, under Geological Society of America auspices, which lists all discoverable works, world-wide, on fossil vertebrates published for the period covered, together with a catalogue of all references to the genera concerned. The volume here reviewed is the seventh in this series. As a result, the vertebrate paleontologist has at his corn-
A27
mand a better and more readily available bibliography of his subject than in the case of any other scientific field with which I am familiar. Only those who have themselves engaged in bibliography can appreciate the enormous amount of selfsacrificing work which Dr. Camp and his associates have devoted to this useful project. Every paleontologist will fervently hope that this series may be continued on into the future. Alfred Sherwood Romer
HANDBOOK OF PALYNOLOGY G. Erdtman, 1969. Handbook of Palynology: Morphology, Taxonomy, Ecology. Munksgaard; Copenhagen, 486 pp., 125 plates, D.Kr. 180.00. Although the author explains clearly in his preface and introduction how narrowly he interprets the word palynology, the general use of the term has so broadened in the last twenty years that readers not acquainted with Erdtman's earlier books may well be surprised at the limited scope of the contents of this new book. The author regards as pure palynology only pollen and spore morphology
(sporology) plus borderline topics with cytology, genetics, taxonomy etc.; for him geopalynology (more usually palaeopalynology), aeropalynology, iatropalynology, pharmacopalynology, melitopalynology and copropalynology are all "applied" topics with names that are "little more than technical jargon". He is particularly severe on the uncritical level of work in much of palaeo-palynology, and there is of course some justice in this but his reactions appear to be inconsistent. Pre-Quaternary spores and pollen are given 8 pages of text and eleven plates away at the end of the book. I Other acid-resistant micro-fossils, I including even scolecodonts a n d chitinozoa have 40 pages of text ' (as an appendix, although in the middle of the book) contributed by W.A.S. Sarjeant; this section is well organised. Most of the book is devoted to morphology, and to a lesser extent to taxonomy, of Recent pollen. The plates, using about half the available space, include palynograms, optical and then electron micrographs (by Anita Dunbar) including a few by Stereoscan. Erdtman's NPCsystem of classification is amplified with some new diagrams, and LO-analysis is among the many other topics discussed further in this book; there is a useful compact glossary of morphographic terms. In an interesting chapter on the use of palynology in angiosperm
taxonomy, there is a continuation of the discussion of characters of pollen in over a hundred principal families; there are cross references to the plates at the end of the book. The whole book is crowded with interesting illustrations and many items of wisdom and experience on the subject to which the author has devoted a lifetime and for which he is justly famous. It is however difficult to use the book, as it is not at all well organised; too much of the text appears to have been assembled in a hurry and much of it consists virtually of anecdotes. The plates which form the second half of the book are inevitably interesting individually, but their system of selection and their precise relevance is by no means always clear; the plate explanations are concise but in many cases too brief. One even has the feeling that the author is partly responsible for the great expense of the book in that so much available plate area is unused. The first sentence of the preface records that the book "sets out to sketch the kaleidoscope of modern research etc." and this is perhaps just what it achieves, within the field limited by the author's selection. It seems to be a lost opportunity when systematic and authoritative guidance in the subject is urgently needed during its present expansion. N.F. Hughes
S A28
relationships between amphiboles and associated minerals provides a guide to analyses for which the "coexisting" minerals have been analysed. No attempt has been made to give an exhaustive treatment. Plots are given of Mg distribution in several coexisting pairs; for the most part there is little evidence for P - T effects on Fe/Mg distribution, although Leake suggests that differences in T account for the scatter in the CPX-HBL plot. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the similarity of Mg distributions between primary pairs and between pairs in which one phase replaces the other. This book will undoubtedly find its way onto many petrologists' bookshelves, alongside Deer, Howie and Zussmann and Ernst's monograph on amphiboles. Fortunately the price is within reach, though it is still higher than what one would expect to pay for a paperbound volume of this size, published by a non-profit organization. W.L. Griffin
PALAEONTOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY C.L. Camp, H.J. Allison, R.H. Nichols and H. McGinnis (Editors), 1968. Bibliography of
Fossil Vertebrates, 1959-1963. Memoir 117, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo., 644 pp., $14.50. In many scientific disciplines, consultation of literature presents few problems. Frequently most of the pertinent material is to be found in a restricted number of journals devoted to the area concerned. Again, in various newly developing fields, papers more than a decade or two old are antiquated and of interest only to the historian of science. Quite different is the situation
in vertebrate paleontology. A borderline subject, its literature is widely scattered in journals in both biology and geology as well as a variety of other sources, such as publications of museums and surveys. Further, papers in this field do not tend to "age" rapidly. If, for example, Cuvier described and figured adequately a fossil mammal in 1796, his work is nearly as valuable today as it was more than a century ago. A major aid to those working on the paleontology of North America was the publication by O.P. Hay of a Bibliography and
Catalogue o f the Fossil Vertebrata o f North America, which covered all publications treating of North American fossils up to 1900, and a second bibliography continued the work up to 1927. Nothing comparable was available for the paleontology of other continents; to remedy this situation, I undertook, with the aid of several colleagues and assistants, to prepare a bibliography of works on nonNorth American fossils paralleling that of Hay up to 1927; this compilation, of about 40,000 titles was published by the Geological Society of America in 1962. WeU and good for the older literature. What of the increasing volume of work since 1927? Some 40 years ago Professor Charles Lewis Camp decided to keep the bibliography of the subject up to date. With the aid of a succession of fellow workers this has been accomplished. Every half-dozen years or so they have completed and published a volume, under Geological Society of America auspices, which lists all discoverable works, world-wide, on fossil vertebrates published for the period covered, together with a catalogue of all references to the genera concerned. The volume here reviewed is the seventh in this series. As a result, the vertebrate paleontologist has at his corn-
A27
mand a better and more readily available bibliography of his subject than in the case of any other scientific field with which I am familiar. Only those who have themselves engaged in bibliography can appreciate the enormous amount of selfsacrificing work which Dr. Camp and his associates have devoted to this useful project. Every paleontologist will fervently hope that this series may be continued on into the future. Alfred Sherwood Romer
HANDBOOK OF PALYNOLOGY G. Erdtman, 1969. Handbook of Palynology: Morphology, Taxonomy, Ecology. Munksgaard; Copenhagen, 486 pp., 125 plates, D.Kr. 180.00. Although the author explains clearly in his preface and introduction how narrowly he interprets the word palynology, the general use of the term has so broadened in the last twenty years that readers not acquainted with Erdtman's earlier books may well be surprised at the limited scope of the contents of this new book. The author regards as pure palynology only pollen and spore morphology
(sporology) plus borderline topics with cytology, genetics, taxonomy etc.; for him geopalynology (more usually palaeopalynology), aeropalynology, iatropalynology, pharmacopalynology, melitopalynology and copropalynology are all "applied" topics with names that are "little more than technical jargon". He is particularly severe on the uncritical level of work in much of palaeo-palynology, and there is of course some justice in this but his reactions appear to be inconsistent. Pre-Quaternary spores and pollen are given 8 pages of text and eleven plates away at the end of the book. I Other acid-resistant micro-fossils, I including even scolecodonts a n d chitinozoa have 40 pages of text ' (as an appendix, although in the middle of the book) contributed by W.A.S. Sarjeant; this section is well organised. Most of the book is devoted to morphology, and to a lesser extent to taxonomy, of Recent pollen. The plates, using about half the available space, include palynograms, optical and then electron micrographs (by Anita Dunbar) including a few by Stereoscan. Erdtman's NPCsystem of classification is amplified with some new diagrams, and LO-analysis is among the many other topics discussed further in this book; there is a useful compact glossary of morphographic terms. In an interesting chapter on the use of palynology in angiosperm
taxonomy, there is a continuation of the discussion of characters of pollen in over a hundred principal families; there are cross references to the plates at the end of the book. The whole book is crowded with interesting illustrations and many items of wisdom and experience on the subject to which the author has devoted a lifetime and for which he is justly famous. It is however difficult to use the book, as it is not at all well organised; too much of the text appears to have been assembled in a hurry and much of it consists virtually of anecdotes. The plates which form the second half of the book are inevitably interesting individually, but their system of selection and their precise relevance is by no means always clear; the plate explanations are concise but in many cases too brief. One even has the feeling that the author is partly responsible for the great expense of the book in that so much available plate area is unused. The first sentence of the preface records that the book "sets out to sketch the kaleidoscope of modern research etc." and this is perhaps just what it achieves, within the field limited by the author's selection. It seems to be a lost opportunity when systematic and authoritative guidance in the subject is urgently needed during its present expansion. N.F. Hughes
S A28