Published by the members of the Medway Fossil and Mineral Society, 2009

This book is a collectors guide to the fossil animals and plants of the London Clay from river and coastal exposures in Kent and Essex. This superb book is published by the Medway Fossil and Mineral Society and was written by four of the Society members, David Rayner, Tony Mitchell, Martin Rayner and Fred Clouter. Printed in full colour on high-quality paper, the A4 format book is 228 pages long, with more than 1270 photographs illustrating over 265 named species. Essentially a field guide for use by both beginners and the more experienced, it will be the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.

Opens with a brief introduction to the collection, preparation and preservation of specimens and a description of the geology. The rest of the book is devoted to a guide to several exposures of the London Clay in Kent and Essex with an identification guide to the many species that can be found there.

The format adopted for the new book is similar to that of the original work but there are many more illustrations and the range of species has been extended to include semi-micro fossils, otoliths, fruits and seeds.

Contents include:

• When to collect, equipment, cleaning, preparation and preservation of specimens, sieving, storage and
  cataloguing, geology and a list of fourteen collecting sites (six with site location maps, access details and collecting techniques).
• Full identification sections provide comprehensive terminology and critical features for, Invertebrates, Vertebrates and Plants and cover the following;
  
  • Foraminifera, bryozoa, worms, trace fossils, corals, barnacles, lobsters, stomatopods, crabs, insects,
    brachiopods, bivalves, scaphapods, gastropods, nautili, coleoides, crinoids, echinoids and starfish.
  • Sharks, rays, chimaera, bony fish, otoliths, turtles, snakes, crocodiles, birds and mammals. Plant material.
• Each species has a summery of key identification features and is illustrated with labelled photographs
  and includes a number of terminology diagrams. A table showing the species range is given at the end of each section. Also a full set of references and a faunal index is provided.