Rather than survey of the extensive data, this book focuses on the ideas, methodology and scope of contemporary palaeobiology. It examines the complex interdependence of evolutionary theory and the interpretation of the fossil record. The author demonstrates that this is not the circular argument between pattern and process sometimes alleged, but a matter of understanding carefully the interrelationship between palaeontological and neontological evidence. The first part of the book consists of four chapters outlining the central principles: the nature of the pattern/process relationship,...