A sea without fish; life in the Ordovician sea of the Cincinnati region.

9780253351982

A sea without fish; life in the Ordovician sea of the Cincinnati region.

Meyer, David L. and Richard Arnold Davis.

Indiana University Press

2009

346 pages

$44.95

Hardcover

Life of the past

QE726

Four hundred and fifty million years ago the Cincinnati basin was an inland sea populated by brachiopods, mollusks, echinoderms and others like them. Meyer (geology, University of Cincinnati) and Davis (biology and geology, College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati) take the reader on the tour of this sea, the creatures that lived in it and the first people to study them. The book is intended for students and interested amateurs. Technical terms are given in boldface and defined in a glossary. The system of naming biological units is carefully explained. The book begins with an often humorous account of early paleologists in the Cincinnati area, most of whom collected fossils as a hobby. Following chapters deal with each species and are enlivened by many illustrations of fossils and the make-up of the animal. Color plates show the fossils as well as their living decedents. The authors make suggestions for further reading at a general level as well as offering an extensive bibliography for more serious students.

([c]2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)