The Palaeontology Newsletter Contents 62 Association Business 3 Association Meetings 50th Annual Meeting 22 Lyell Meeting 2007 26 Advert: Geobiology MSc at Cardiff 27 From our correspondents On Cosmik Debris and Palaeontology 28 The curse of plenty 36 Tree building 43 Palaeo-math 101: Rs & Qs II 60 Mystery Fossil 10 75 Meeting Reports 76 Barrington Pit Ichthyosaur excavation 87 What a long strange trip it’s been… 91 Future meetings of other bodies 96 Sylvester-Bradley reports 106 Book Reviews 117 Discounts for PalAss members 146 Palaeontology vol 49 parts 3 & 4 148–149 Reminder: The deadline for copy for Issue no 63 is 6th October 2006. On the Web: <http://palass.org/> ISSN: 0954-9900 Newsletter 62 2 Newsletter 62 3 50th Annual General Meeting and Annual Address AGENDA 1. Apologies for absence 2. Annual Report for 2005 3. Accounts and Balance Sheet for 2005 4. Proposed changes to the Constitution 5. Election of Council and vote of thanks to retiring members. 6. Palaeontological Association Awards 7. Annual address H. A. Armstrong Secretary Newsletter 62 4 Association Business The Palaeontological Association Annual Report for 2005 Nature of the Association. The Palaeontological Association is a Charity registered in England, Charity Number 276369. Its Governing Instrument is the Constitution adopted on 27 February 1957, amended on subsequent occasions as recorded in the Council Minutes. Trustees (Council Members) are elected by vote of the Membership at the Annual General Meeting. The contact address of the Association is c/o The Executive Officer, Dr T. J. Palmer, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, Wales, UK. Membership & subscriptions. Individual membership totalled 1,270 on 31st December 2005, an overall decrease of 15 over the 2004 figure. There were 775 Ordinary Members, a decrease of 16; 173 Retired Members, an increase of 15; 320 Student Members, a decrease of 20 and 2 honorary members. There were 142 Institutional Members in 2004, of which 62 also subscribe to Special Papers in Palaeontology. Total Individual and Institutional subscriptions to Palaeontology through Blackwell’s agency numbered 378. Subscriptions to Special Papers in Palaeontology numbered 217 individuals (Ordinary, Retired and Student) and 142 institutional members. Regular orders through Blackwell’s agency for Special Papers in Palaeontology totalled 39 copies. Sales to individuals through the Executive Officer of current and back numbers of Special Papers in Palaeontology (279 copies) yielded £8,499. Income from sales of Field Guides to Fossils amounted to £4,317. Sales of “Fold out Fossils” totalled £10. Finance. Publication of Palaeontology and Special Papers in Palaeontology is managed by Blackwell’s, who also make sales and manage distribution on behalf of the Association. In addition to the fee that they take directly from the subscribers, the Association paid them a further fee of £8,009. The Association gratefully acknowledges the donations from Members to the Sylvester- Bradley Fund, which amounted to £238. Grants from general funds to external organisations, for the support of palaeontological meetings and projects, totalled £11,430. Twenty-three grants-in-aid totalling £8,000 were provided to support postgraduate student attendance at the International Palaeontological Congress in Beijing. The Association continues its membership of the International Palaeontological Association and remains a Tier 1 sponsor of Palaeontologia Electronica. The Association continues to support the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology with financial support of $5,000 per year. Publications. Volume 48 of Palaeontology, comprising six issues and 1,427 pages in total, was published at a cost of £91,619. A new section of Palaeontology was dedicated to “Rapid Communications.” Special Papers in Palaeontology 73 “Conodont biology and phylogeny: interpreting the fossil record” edited by M. A. Purnell and P. C. J. Donoghue was published at a cost of £7,745 and totalled 218 pages. Special Papers in Palaeontology 74: “Brachiopods from the Dashaba Formation (Middle Ordovician) of Sichuan Province, south-west China” by Zhan Ren-bin and Jin Jisuo was published at a cost of £2,239 and totalled 63 pages. There were no Field Guides to Fossils or Fold-Out Fossils for 2005. Digital files of published papers in Palaeontology and multi- authored Special Papers in Palaeontology are now given to authors in addition to free reprints. Newsletter 62 5 The Association is grateful to the National Museum of Wales and the Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham for providing storage facilities for publication back-stock and archives. Council is indebted to Meg and Nick Stroud for assistance with the publication and distribution of Palaeontology Newsletter. Meetings. Three meetings were held in 2005, and the Association extends its thanks to the organisers and host institutions of these meetings. The Forty-ninth Annual General Meeting was held on 18–21 December at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Dr D. Siveter, with much local support, organised the meeting. The President’s Award was made to Maria McNamara (University College Dublin). The Council Poster Prize was presented to Richard Callow (University of Oxford). On the final day field trips were undertaken to the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Oxfordshire. There were 300 attendees. Progressive Palaeontology was held at the University of Leicester on 15th June. The annual open meeting for presentations by research students was organised by David Jones at the University of Leicester. A British Association Festival of Science Symposium was held in Trinity College Dublin on 3–10 September, on “Rewriting the history of life: exceptionally well-preserved fossils and our understanding of evolution,” organised by Dr Orr and Dr Manning. Awards. The Lapworth Medal, awarded to people who have made a significant contribution to the science by means of a substantial body of research, was awarded to Prof. W. G. Chaloner. The Hodson Fund, for a palaeontologist under the age of 35 who has made an outstanding achievement in contributing to the science through a portfolio of original published research, was awarded to Dr P. C. J. Donoghue (University of Bristol). Prof. J. H. Callomon and Prof. C. H. Holland were awarded Honorary Life Membership. The Mary Anning award, for an outstanding contribution by an amateur palaeontologist, was made to Mr Andrew Yule and Mr Steve Etches. The Sylvester- Bradley Fund continues to attract a large number of high quality international applications and awards totalling £10,985 were made. Council awards an undergraduate prize to each university department in which palaeontology is taught at a post-first-year level. One new “Golden Trilobite” award was made, to <www.trilobites.info>, and links were made to the Association website. Council. The following members were elected to serve on Council at the AGM on 19th December 2005: Dr Twitchett (Newsletter Editor), Dr Servais (Ordinary Member) and Dr Harper will stay on Council as a handling editor and Trustee. During the year Dr Sutton and Dr Wellman (as Annual meeting organiser for 2006) were co-opted as Ordinary Members. At the AGM the following members stepped down from Council: Dr Purnell (Vice-President), Dr Donoghue (retired as Newsletter Editor but stays on Council as a Vice-President) and Prof. Evans (retired as a Trustee but will remain as a handling editor). Dr T. J. Palmer continued to serve as the Executive Officer of the Association, and Prof. D. J. Batten (University of Manchester) as the Editor in Chief. Council is indebted to the Natural History Museum, London, and the Universities of Leicester and Birmingham for providing meeting venues through the year. Professional Services. The Association’s Bankers are NatWest Bank, 42 High Street, Sheffield. The Association’s Independent Examiner is G. R. Powell BSc FCA, Nether House, Great Bowden, Market Harborough, Leicestershire. During the year the Associations’ investment portfolio was transferred Newsletter 62 6 to Common Funds under the management of Morgan Stanley Quilter, St Helen’s, The Undershaft, London EC3A 8BB. This will allow the account managers to deal on our behalf without the instruction of the Treasurer, being more efficient and saving on fees. Reserves. The Association holds reserves of £532,408 in General Funds. These Reserves enable the Association to generate additional revenue through investments, and thus to keep subscriptions to individuals at a low level, whilst still permitting a full programme of meetings to be held and publications to be produced. They also act as a buffer to enable the normal programme to be followed in years in which expenditure exceeds income, and new initiatives to be pursued, without increasing subscription costs. The Association holds £69,955 in Designated Funds which contribute interest towards the funding of the Sylvester-Bradley, Hodson Fund and Mary Anning awards. Council Activities. The Association continues to improve its administration with further improvements to the Newsletter and website. The Association continues to be proactive in generating publicity for palaeontology with major press initiatives and a continued high profile on the television. Primers on numerical analysis and cladistics in the Newsletter have been widely acclaimed. A highlight of the year has been the provision online of Palaeontology (back to volume 12) and further back issues of Special Papers in Palaeontology, free to the palaeontological community. A new Publicity sub-domain has been developed for the website. Further developments have been made to online purchasing of Association publications and meetings registration. Blackwell continue to provide additional services to the Association including, an e-alert service and a publicity service. The Annual Address, given at the Annual Meeting and entitled “William Buckland and the dawning of palaeoecology,” was presented by Prof. W.J. Kennedy (Oxford University Museum of Natural History) and was attended by 300 people. The Association was represented during the year by Prof. Crane and Dr Lloydell on the Joint Committee for Palaeontology.