Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms

Fortey (former senior paleontologist, Natural History Museum, London; Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth) mingles natural history with geology as he rambles the globe seeking out the locations of plants and animals that appear to have survived to the present day from as far back as the Paleozoic era. He discusses how they currently fit into their ecosystems and shares information gleaned from the geologic record. Fortey admits that these "living fossils"—or living species that appear the same as species known only from fossils and that are without close living relatives—are unlikely to have survived for so long without changing, as it is the nature of all life to change and mutate. While this book provides a glossary, its major weakness is that there are too few illustrations. Readers unfamiliar with these little-known species will have trouble visualizing the plants Fortey discusses.