Re: Brachiopods on safari (or snorkelling giraffes)

From
Date
>I have just received the latest issue of _Palaeontology_ (Vol 40(1)),
>complete with tacky new orangy-reddy coloured jacket.  Anyhow, the abstract
>of the paper entitled "Functional significance of the spines of the
>Ordovician lingulate brachiopod _Acanthambonia" by Anthony Wright and Jaak
>Nolvak (p. 113-119), drew my attention.  The abstract begins:

The splendid, cheerful orangy-reddy jacket is in fact Ruby.  Or so the
printers tell us.  It commorates the fact that this is Volume 40, our Ruby
Volume.  Have no fear.  Next year we'll be going back to blue.

>"A giraffid skull and mandible from the early Mid Miocene Kermaria
>Formation at Thymania (Island of Chios, Greece) has enabled revision of the
>genus _Georgiomeryx_.  The new specimen is compared with attachment spines,
>supplimenting a pedicle which is functional throughout ontology and
>regarded as anchoring the animal possibly to algal strands above the see
>floor."
>
>Hmm, increase in giraffid neck length as an intertidal phenomenon perhaps?!
>
>This gets my vote for the best introduction to an abstract this year.  The
>fact that the first sentence and a bit has been copied from the next
>abstract in the issue is besides the point :-)

Yes.  Our faces are also ruby.  But not quite as much as those of the
printers whose error this was (the second proof does not contain the error).
Nevertheless the mistake was our responsibility and we apologise
unreservedly to those people who have been affected.  We set (and usually
receive) high standards for the production of Palaeontology, and we assure
all members of the Palaeontological Association and prospective authors that
there will be no compromise on this policy.

If you would like to join the Pal Ass (membership rates for Students are
about to go DOWN) or to find details of our publications (including the
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http://www.nhm.ac.uk/paleonet/PalAss/PalAss.html

Tim Palmer, Treasurer of the Palaeontological Association
'Probably the best association of palaeontologists in the World...'
Tim Palmer  tjp@aber.ac.uk