Facets of the Silurian receptaculitid Ischadites barrandei are arranged in circlets about a nucleus. They form a set of spirals, originally eight in number, but increasing by the intercalation of new facets (initiating new spirals) in later circlets. We have simulated the surficial geometry of this alga by assuming, as much evidence indicates, that facets are limited in final size and that new spirals must therefore be intercalated in order to cover the surface with a fully tesselated pattern. We use only five parameters in our simulation: nature of the surface (radius of a sphere), tightness of the spirals (assumed to be logarithmic) and rate of increase in facet width (three parameters of an equation fitted to actual data). The program draws facets in circlets and intercalates new ones whenever the sum of facet diameters is at least a facet less than the circumference of the circlet. By holding all but one parameter constant, we can test the influence of single factors upon the pattern of intercalation. We compare these figures with actual patterns of intercalation for eight specimens. Variation in tightness of the spiral seems to affect the pattern most radically—tight spirals intercalate fewer facets because new circlets stay near the pole of the sphere. The morphology of intercalation supports the interpretation of Rietschel (1969, contra Nitecki, 1972 and Byrnes, 1968) that the nuclear circlets are the oldest part of the plant and that new circlets are generated at the opposite pole. Our simulation represents a basic pattern in nature, not a specific feature of receptaculitids. All structures that fill space with spirals and impose limits upon the size of individual units must add new spirals. Bryozoans subject to similar constraints but growing in a completely different way (peripheral growth in radial rows) display the same final pattern.

A theory is presented that cranial crests of hadrosaurs were visual and acoustical display organs. Facial morphology and phylogeny of the Hadrosauridae and earlier theories of crest function are reviewed. The following hypothesis is presented: cranial crests, whether hollow or solid, served as visual signal structures, and hollow lambeosaur crests were also vocal resonators; all crests promoted successful matings within species, i.e., they served as premating genetic isolating mechanisms. The following predictions are tested and found to support the hypothesis: (1) hadrosaurs had well-developed eyes and ears; (2) external features of crests varied independently of internal structure; (3) crest variations were species-specific and sexually-dimorphic; (4) crest distinctiveness correlates with species diversity; (5) crest size tended to increase through time. The circumnarial depression on the side of the face in hadrosaurines housed an inflatable diverticulum of the nasal passage which served as a visual display organ. Primitive hadrosaurs (kritosaurs) possessed a small nasal horn used as a butting weapon in intraspecific combat. Because the weapon was also used in intimidative displays, narial diverticula evolved to draw attention to it. In the kritosaur Brachylophosaurus fighting was modified to ritualized head-pushing using the flat nasal “shield”. Saurolophines expanded the diverticula on to the elongated nasal horn, converting the weapon to a dominance rank symbol. In non-crested edmontosaurs, enlarged diverticula assumed a vocalization function. Lambeosaurs created resonators by enclosing the diverticula in bone; they further enhanced the resonator function of the nose by forming elongated “organ pipes” in the premaxillae. This “pushed” the olfactory region above the eyes as a conspicuous dome which then was modified to form species-specific visual display organs.

Experiments show that diductor muscles of articulate brachiopods are normally relaxed, contracting only when the valves gape. Consequently, dead brachiopods rarely gape.

The prosogyrous shape and flattened lunule of a typical clam shell form a blunt anterior, the function of which is related to the forward-and-back rocking motion of the shell in burrowing. Analysis of movies has revealed that each rocking motion of a morphologically typical clam, Mercenaria mercenaria (Linné), involves purely rotational movement, with no translational component. The clam is able to burrow by “walking” its way downward only because the axis of backward rotation lies to the anterior of the axis of forward rotation. Experiments with burrowing robots show that the blunt anterior serves to shift the axis of backward rotation anteriorly, thus aiding in downward progress. The prosogyrous condition and the rotational mechanism of burrowing are fundamental adaptations of burrowing clams and were apparently present in the ancestral bivalves of the Cambrian.

Muscular articulations on the brachials and pinnules of Paleozoic crinoids have traditionally been inferred by the presence of a transverse ridge. We here provide evidence that the microstructure of the stereom, fine meshed where muscles once inserted and coarse meshed where ligaments were emplaced, provides a reliable microstructural criterion for muscular articulation on well-preserved arm ossicles. Partially pyritized ossicles of Aesiocrinus magnificus Miller & Gurley from the Lane Shale of Pennsylvanian age at Kansas City, Missouri exhibit well-preserved stereom in three dimensions under the scanning electron microscope. These brachial and pinnular plates show clearly the distinctiveness of stereom at sites of muscule and ligament attachment. This criterion should be useful in tracing the evolutionary development of flexible arm articulations in several lineages of Paleozoic crinoids.

The degree of perceived taxonomic change in various lineages may be directly related to their general morphologic complexity: more complex forms appear to change more rapidly. “Rates of evolution” as customarily reported by paleontologists may therefore be a poor indication of evolutionary changes in the underlying genome. Two approaches were used to examine this problem. (1) We have estimated the degree of morphologic complexity by using the number of descriptive terms per genus, and per family, for 12 major groups of animals. Three general levels of complexity occur: (i) gastropods, bivalves and ectoprocts have relatively few terms; (ii) echinoids, foraminiferans, ostracodes, nautiloids, corals, trilobites, and brachiopods have an intermediate number of terms; (iii) mammals and ammonoids appear to have a relatively large number of terms. These 3 levels of complexity also increase in rate of taxonomic turnover; i.e., an increasing rate of evolution. (2) Using a cluster analysis based on morphologic similarity, we grouped 200 lineages of a computer-generated phylogenetic sequence according to 4 phenetic bases: 3, 5, 10 and 20 morphologic traits. Groups based on a few characters are longer lived and are commonly polyphyletic in comparison with groups based on many characters. In both the real world and the computer simulation, the bias of differential morphologic complexity may account for the observation that “only complicated animals evolve.” Most paleontologic studies of the “rate of evolution” may tell us more about morphologic complexity than about evolutionary rates of genomes.

The phenomenon of selective biotic extinction is commonly explained as the result of the extinction of specialized organisms and the survival of generalized organisms during a time of environmental stress. Using 48 orders of aquatic free-living arthropods, we test the hypothesis that generalized organisms tend to have longer geologic ranges than specialized organisms. The degree of specialization, as expressed through morphological complexity, is measured by the diversity of limb pairs on the arthropod body. The resulting “tagmosis value” reflects the functional differentiation of limb pairs to perform specific tasks and thus may estimate ecological specialization. No statistically significant correlation exists between an order's typical degree of morphological specialization and its geologic range. Degree of specialization is not an important determinant of evolutionary persistence at this taxonomic level. Evolutionary longevity may depend on the adaptive type (e.g., trophic role, relationship to substrate, etc.) represented by the taxon and on the assortment of these adaptive types.

As Van Valen has demonstrated, the taxonomic survivorship curve is a valuable means of investigating extinction rates in the fossil record. He suggested that within an adaptive zone, related taxa display stochastically constant and equal extinction rates. Such a condition is evidenced by straight survivorship curves for species and higher taxa. Van Valen's methods of survivorship analysis can be improved upon and several suggestions are presented. With proper manipulation of data, it is possible to pool the information from extinct and living taxa to produce a single survivorship curve and therefore a single estimate of extinction rate. If extinction rate is constant at the species level (producing a straight survivorship curve), higher taxa in the same group should be expected to have convex survivorship curves. The constancy of extinction rates (here termed Van Valen's Law) can and should be tested rigorously. Several methods are available, of which the Total Life method of Epstein is particularly effective.

Two communities dominated by deposit-feeding bivalves are recognized in Quisset Harbor, Massachusetts. Interference with life position and sediment preconditioning restrict the distribution of some species. The Eel Grass Community, dominated by Nucula proxima, comprises primarily non-siphonate forms which live in fecal-pellet rich, high-water-content, oxygenated sediment. The sediment texture results from active burrowing. This soft, mobile sediment readily clogs the siphons of siphonate bivalves. The Channel Community, dominated by Yoldia limatula, comprises primarily siphonate forms which live in partly compacted, low-water-content muds. Each community is characterized by abundant surface, shallow, and deep feeding species. Competition for food has generated this distinct stratification in feeding depth of the dominant species with each community.

Similar competitive relationships, affecting both species occurrence and trophic stratification, are apparent in three Silurian age deposit-feeding bivalve communities from the McAdam Brook Formation of Nova Scotia. A community dominated by four non-siphonate species inhabited soupy, high-water-content muds. A community dominated by three siphonate species lived in cohesive muds. A mixed community, dominated by four species, two non-siphonate and two siphonate species (the most abundant of which are present, but not as the most abundant forms, in the other communities), characterized the mid-way point of the ecotone between the other two communities.

These deposit-feeding bivalve dominated communities have similar structural patterns although separated by 400 million years and despite environmental differences and evolutionary changes. Both response to physical factors, such as sediment character, and interspecific competition impose and maintain this type of community structure.