Prokaryotae (Monera)	Protoctista    Dinoflagellata Phaeophyta	Fungi	Plantae	Animalia (Metazoa)   Porifera Ctenophora Cnidaria Mollusca Annelida Arthropoda Echinodermata Chordata Other Phyla
	The Encylopædia Britannica CD-ROM is highly recommended, especially for general information on the animal phyla, and oceanography	Generally, the BMLSS is a repository of new information, or information not easily available elsewhere	If the information can be discovered by consulting the Encylopædia Britannica it is unlikely to be included here	The BMLSS is not a comprehensive information resource but a selection of news items and marine wildlife data

The Fossil Company - Picture Gallery of Fossils

Zoological Record  BIOSIS Internet Guide to Zoology

Museum of Paleontology University of California, Berkeley	Probably the best site on the Internet for biological information about groups of organisms Click on the Cowrie to go to the Web Site Taxonomic Index
Internet Biodiversity Service FISHBASE FISHFINDER	The plan is to include every fish species in the world. Good for families and the history of the scientific names.

Five Kingdoms
A multimedia guide to the phyla of life on earth
World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM SERIES
Biodiversity Center of ETI
Multimedia Interactive Software
By L. Margulis & K.V. Schwartz
ETI
Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification
UNESCO Publishing

This is an important and interesting publication for the serious biologist; a multimedia guide to the
5 kingdoms which are divided into 92 phyla.
NB. It does not go down to the genera and species (the names for individual animals); it is an introduction to
the major groups.

The BMLSS have adopted these classifications at  phylum level. All the phyla are described in detail with a
useful glossary of the important biological terms, e.g. "budding: asexual reproduction by outgrowth of a bud
from a parent cell or body", and "parthenogenesis: development of an unfertilized egg into an organism".

The CD-ROM contains an excellent introduction and monochrome habitat illustrations with 'hotspot' links to
phyla, and individual species, usually the smaller microscopic organisms, illustrated with clear colour
photographs.

This CD-ROM is designed for professional biologists, but it would certainly be valuable for students to have
a look at this, so it should be in University and Public Libraries. The extensive references tend to be
American centred. There are moving images and musical introductions on some subjects.

The CD-ROM works both under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 and on Apple Mackintosh computers.

The BMLSS will not be duplicating information on this disc on any of our planned electronic publications as
we really could not improve on the descriptions of the characteristics of each phylum.

However, I appreciate that expensive computer equipment and CD-ROMs are not within the budget of all
our members. Details of the animal phyla are described in many text books, e.g. Philips Atlas of the Oceans
by John Pernetta (Reed International 1994).
 

NEW BOOK

The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures that have ever lived, by Colin Tudge

ISBN  0-19-850311-3   £35.00   (Oxford University Press, March 2000)
 

A magnificently illustrated, highly readable and authoritative account and reference source of all creatures, alive and extinct. How is it possible to summarise such a huge number? By classification: the book does not of course describe every single species, but it does show all principal groups to which all living things belong.  Far from being a dull pursuit, the modern craft and science of classification takes us into some of the most intriguing and intricate areas  of biological philosophy and technique, in which new studies of extraordinary fossils and of DNA plucked from the wild all play their part. We are entering a new phase of biology in which, for the first time, biologists can feel reasonably confident that they now have an insight into life's true diversity, and that they have the methods required to keep track of it. The Variety of Life heralds this new phase. Here is the book that everyone who is interested in living things must own, from general readers to professional biologists.
 

• Provides a summary of ALL creatures, alive and extinct
• The only one volume summary of all living things
• Classifies all principal groups to which living things belong
• Whatever living thing you come across - from E. coli to an oak tree or an elephant - the book shows what kind of living thing it is, and how it relates to all others

The phylogenic trees and strong emphasis on classification are recommended.
Brief Review

Zoological Record  BIOSIS Internet Guide to Zoology
http://www.york.biosis.org/zrdocs/zoolinfo/
 

National Center for Biotechnology Information
NCBI taxonomy browser
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/tax.html

Aquascope
Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Strömstad, Sweden
Systematic List

British Marine Life Study Society Homepage

European Register of Marine Species

Index: British Marine Life Study Society

Seashore Page

SPECIES LIST;  Original List

Wildlife News: Latest

THE SPECIES DIRECTORY OF THE MARINE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND SURROUNDING SEAS.
Edited by C. Howson and B. Picton
Ulster Museum & the Marine Conservation Society 1997.
About £27.50 (including CD-ROM 1999)

The project to collate the species that live in the seas off Britain is an ongoing project. The Directory is a list of all the species grouped systematically according to their scientific names, with a comprehensive bibliography. The 1997 edition, not available until 1998, is the latest list and is useful on the rare occasions (about once a week for me) that I have to look up a vagrant, unusual species that is not listed in the usual identification books.

Now available with the CD-ROM, this proves useful list of all the species for professionals, but it could be improved to make it more useful, e.g. facilities for biological recording and an interchange with Recorder 2000.

MCS books On-Line

Biological Taxonomy & Classification (Montgomery College Library)

Taxonomy
"Nuts and Bolts" of Taxonomy and Classification

PALAEOS:  TRACE OF LIFE ON EARTH