Excerpt from Fossil Corals From Central America, Cuba, and Porto Rico: With an Account of the American Tertiary, Pleistocene, and Recent Coral Reefs Custodian of Madreporaria, United States National Museum, and Geologist in charge of Coastal Plain Investigations, United States Geological Survey. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Hardcover reprint of the original 1919 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9". All foldouts have been masterfully reprinted in their original form. No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Vaughan, Thomas Wayland. Fossil Corals From Central America, Cuba, And Porto Rico: With An Account Of The American Tertiary, Pleistocene, And Recent Coral Reefs. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Vaughan, Thomas Wayland. Fossil Corals From Central America, Cuba, And Porto Rico: With An Account Of The American Tertiary, Pleistocene, And Recent Coral Reefs, . Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1919. Subject: Corals, Fossil

With all the recent advances in molecular and evolutionary biology, one could almost wonder why we need the fossil record. Molecular sequence data can resolve taxonomic relationships, experiments with fruit flies demonstrate evolution and development in real time, and field studies of Galapagos finches have provided the strongest evidence for natural selection ever measured in the wild. What, then, can fossils teach us that living organisms cannot? Evolutionary Patterns demonstrates the rich variety of clues to evolution that can be gleaned from the fossil record. Chief among these are the major trends and anomalies in species development revealed only by "deep time," such as periodic mass extinctions and species that remain unchanged in form for millions of years. Contributors explore modes of development, the tempo of speciation and extinction, and macroevolutionary patterns and trends. The result is an important contribution to paleobiology and evolutionary biology, and a spirited defense of the fossil record as a crucial tool for understanding evolution and development. The contributors are Ann F. Budd, Efstathia Bura, Leo W. Buss, Mike Foote, Jörn Geister, Stephen Jay Gould, Eckart Hâkansson, Jean-Georges Harmelin, Lee-Ann C. Hayek, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Kenneth G. Johnson, Nancy Knowlton, Scott Lidgard, Frank K. McKinney, Daniel W. McShea, Ross H. Nehm, Beth Okamura, John M. Pandolfi, Paul D. Taylor, and Erik Thomsen.