Перед нами первая популярная книга на русском языке о трилобитах. Миллионы лет назад эти необычайные животные самых немыслимых форм и размеров, хищные и смирные, крошки и гиганты, царили в океанах и на суше…. А потом исчезли. О загадках их ушедшей жизни интеллигентно и остроумно рассказывает Ричард Форти, большой знаток трилобитов, влюбленный в них с самого детства. Читатель не только получит основательные сведения о трилобитах и их современниках. Он почувствует поступь эволюции, которая произвела на свет этих существ, позволила им сначала триумфально шествовать по океанам и эпохам, а потом – таинственно исчезнуть. Вы узнаете, как с помощью трилобитов подвинуть Африку и как считать время по трилобитовому циферблату. Не менее увлекательно и драматично Форти показывает судьбы ученых и причудливый мир науки с его головоломками и озарениями

The proceedings of the first International Conference on Trilobites and their Relatives held in Oslo in 1973 (Bruton 2019) were published in one of the earliest editions of Fossils and Strata (Martinsson 1975). It is highly fitting, therefore, that with the return of the conference to Baltoscandia (P€arnaste 2018), the Lethaia Foundation, under whose auspices Fossils and Strata is published, kindly offered to publish a volume of papers arising from the sixth meeting held in Tallinn, Estonia, in July 2017. The papers in the volume vary considerably in length. Although a notional page limit was given, it was made clear from the outset that there was some flexibility in this.

INTRODUCTION

1. STRATIGRAPHY
1.1. Stratigraphic Units of the Carbonate Part of the Ladoga Glint Ordovician
1.2. Trilohite-Based Biostratigraphic Divisions of the Carbonate Ordovician Deposits of the Ladoga Glint
2. PALEONTOLOGY
2.1. The Morphology of Trilobites of the Subfamily Asaphinae
2.2. Some Data on the Ecology of the Asaphinae: Living and Taphonomical Environments
2.3. Evolution of the Subfamily Asaphinae in the Volkhov-Uhakian Time
2.4. Systematic Paleontology of the Subfamily Asaphinae
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES

The Wulingshan Mountains region of northwestern Hunan and eastern Guizhou provinces, China, contains some of the most complete and fossiliferous strata known in the upper part of the Cambrian. Easy access to good exposures has helped make this area the subject of numerous systematic, biostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic, and sequence-stratigraphic studies.

'A good collection of well-arranged trilobites looks better in the cabinet than perhaps any other fossils', wrote J.E. Taylor in Our Common British Fossils, published in 1885. Such is their popular appeal that trilobites have always been some of the most eagerly sought after of all fossils. Their name, suggested by their singular three-lobed appearance is derived from 'Trilobitae', introduced by the German naturalist Johann Walch in 1771 in his Der Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen ('Natural History of Petrefactions'). The study of trilobites has particularly long associations with Wales, and the ancient rocks which crop out over much of the Principality have been well known as a rich source of them for nearly 300 years. This article outlines some of the history of their investigation in the area, describes their occurrence there, and discusses aspects of their nomenclature and morphology which are well illustrated by Welsh examples. <...>

T o m Whiteley, an accomplished amateur paleontologist, has taken the lead in compiling a much-needed popular account of the trilobites of New York. Sumptuously illustrated with generous photographs of complete specimens of New York trilobites, this book is more than a regional field guide. It also testifies to Gerry Kloc's expertise in preparation and Carlton Brett's keen insight about the rocks and complex facies of the state. In essence, the book reprises the work of Charles Walcott, another accomplished amateur paleontologist of a century and a quarter ago.

Trilobites tell me of ancient marine shores teeming with budding life, when silence was only broken by the wind, the breaking of the waves, or by the thunder of storms and volcanoes. The struggle for survival already had its toll in the seas, but only natural laws and events determined the fate of evolving life forms. No footprints were to be found on those shores, as life had not yet conquered land. Genocide had not been invented as yet, and the threat to life on Earth resided only with the comets and asteroids.
All fossils are, in a way, time capsules that can transport our imagination to unseen shores, lost in the sea of eons that preceded us. The time of trilobites is unimaginably far away, and yet, with relatively little effort, we can dig out these messengers of our past and hold them in our hand. And, if we learn the language, we can read their message. <...>

Трилобиты – одни из древнейших известных науке членистоногих. Эти животные относятся к древнейшим сложным формам жизни, которые появились на Земле; именно у них впервые появился твердый панцирь, защищавший тело. Первые трилобиты появились в мировом океане 521 миллион лет назад в период раннего кембрия. Трилобиты быстро достигли своего расцвета и были очень широко распространены в палеозойскую эру.

It took me approximately 15 years to put together the material included in the first edition of my book, Trilobites, a Photographic Atlas, and see it published by the University of Chicago Press in 1975. The task included, first of all, the fun part—the treasure hunt—digging out the specimens from their burial rock at several locations around the world. Looking for the best-preserved find was often a frustrating enterprise. Once the specimens were brought home, the unwanted cover matrix had to be chipped away, typically under the optical microscope with a variety of tools; and often the specimens had to be prepared for photography using appropriate techniques to enhance their appearance.

Fossils are our planet's memory, and they stick hard in our memories. Those people who are lucky enough to have found fossils often remember their first fossil for life. Leaving dinosaurs aside for the moment, two types of fossils seem to appeal more than others: ammonites and trilobites. Both are extinct, diverse, and beautiful; both are poster children for extinction; and both have fans who devote their lives to collecting them.