Foraminifera / Фораминиферы

The last general textbook on Foraminifera published in Britain was that by Chapman in 1902. This may appear surprising in the light of their value in geological work and their emergence 'as perhaps one of the most abundant organisms on earth by virtue of their abundance in the deep sea' (Lipps, 1978). It is explained by the success of Cushman's book on Foraminifera published in the United States in 1928 which went into several editions, the last in 1948, and by their excellent coverage in Glaessner's Principles of Micropalaeontology (1945). Both these books are now out of date and out of print. Foraminifera have been covered in the encyclopaedic monographs on invertebrate palaeontology published in several countries since World War II, the treatment by Loeblich and Tappan (1964) in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology being the best known, but with an inevitable emphasis on classification. Their Recent distribution has also been well covered (Murray, 1973b). There is, therefore, a real need for a general textbook on Foraminifera which lays stress on their stratigraphical application. <...>