You can find fossils practically everywhere in the British Isles, and Britain's geological structure is so richly varied that in our beaches, cliffs, rocks and mud-flats are creatures and organisms of all ages, from pre-Cambrian times 500 million years ago down to the present day.

The term fossil includes all organisms, or even their traces, which are permanently preserved in nature - petrified ferns and fishes of the Palaeozoic Age; bees set in a pine-tree's resin; a woolly rhinoceros, completely preserved in the frozen mud of Northern Siberia, from the furry covering of its body to the last meal taken in its stomach. There can be few things more fascinating than recognising and interpreting these relics of all stages of the world's evolution, and Professor Swinnerton has provided here an ideal handbook and guide for students of palaeontology and naturalists - or, for that matter, anyone who ever goes for a walk in the country or the sea-side.