two breasts, but some represent an androgynous condition and only have one.
Thelast day took us back to SW Sardinia. The first stop in the Upper Ordovician of Cannamenda was to two trenches which exposed the Punta S Argiola Member of the Domusnovas Formation. The richest Ordovician conodont fauna in Sardinia is found here, but only, to quote the guidebook, in the thin fossiliferous horizon (4- 4.5cm) with no lateral continuity and poorly exposed as small sparse pieces in the field. The only redeeming feature is its distinctive pink colour.
We returned again to the Devonian. Of all the outcrops we visited, this was the most unconvincing, in that it appeared to be a loose block set in the hedge between two fields. Nevertheless, important conodonts have been collected, representing the only Middle and Late Devonian faunas collected in SW Sardinia.
There was a final look at the Silurian OrthocerasLimestone before we slippedinto the Cambrian Gonessa Formation for a spot to eat. The venue - a restaurant next to an enormous cave; lunch (ample cold meat, anti- pasta and suckling pig) had an added bonus - our first taste of famous Italian ice cream. Absolutely mouth-watering!
After lunch Cambrian material was collected from the roadside. The last part of the day was spent travelling around the spectacular coast of SW Sardinia. The Sardic Unconformity, described by Cocozza as the most beautiful in the world, and to this day known to Italians as "La Discordanza", was our last stop. Upper Cambrian laminated shales (Cabizta Formation) are overlain by boulder-bearing conglomerates of the Ordovician Monte Argentu Formation, an unconformity definitely as spectacular as any I have seen. The return to Senorbí heralded another huge meal. The main course fish had interesting crushing dentition, some of which was dissected by Phil Donoghue. The after dinner entertainment arrived in the form of a joke-telling session chaired and dominated by Rocco Repetski, with encouragement from Dick Aldridge and Andrew Simpson.
Our last day began with Ordovician localities, and some of the steepest walks of the week; not necessarily a bad thing after all the eating! The outcrops at Umbrarutta yield the best -preserved Ordovician faunas found in Sardinia, so last samples were collected, and we finished the geological part of the field trip. We then headed west to the archaeological ruins of Tharros, grabbing a last chance to do some geology by studying basaltic blocks used in its construction.

The final seafood meal was fantastic and the wine flowed freely. Dick Aldridge gave the speech of thanks to the organising committee aided and abetted by Norman Savage's helpful suggestions. We all heartily agreed that the trip had been an enormous

success, and organisers.

raised

our

glasses

to

the

From: Karen Cochrane, University of Birmingham [edited from Pander Society newsletter]

************************************************************** ECOS VII: Scientific sessions,

Bologna-Modena 1998

June

24-26,

The scientific sessions for the 7th International Conodont Symposium in Europe (ECOS VII) took place at the University of Bologna (claimed as the world's oldest) in the Dipartimento di Scienza della Terrae Geologico-Ambiantale.
Congress President, Professor Enrico Serpagli, noted the large number of participants (109 from 27 nations), many who had dipped into their own pockets, despite the generally gloomy global picture of declining funding for palaeontological research. During the welcome we were reminded that the University has a proud tradition of stratigraphic research in the Carnic Alps and the Dolomites, dating back to Pollini last century. The University was also the site of the 2nd International Geological Congress in 1880. There is obvious pride in the Department's Geological and Palaeontological Museum (visited by delegates the previous evening), that houses a fully reconstructed Diplodocus. The museum was only recently saved from extinction and opened to the public in 1988. The President of the Italian Palaeontological Society reiterated the words of welcome, and noted that despite technological and geochemical advances, fossils are still needed for accurate and viable age determinations.
Dick Aldridge (Univ. Leicester), presented the invited lecture on conodont palaeobiology, reviewing the developing concepts and summarising current knowledge since the discovery of the whole animal in a museum draw in the early 1980s. He noted

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