The Westbury Formation (Rhaetian) beds of Westbury Garden Cliff, Westbury-on-Severn, west of Gloucester, Britain, show an unusual combination of features. Both deep water and emergent characteristics are present within the sediments and the trace fossils. The ichnoassemblage consists of abundant Selenichnites, Planolites beverlyensis and Lockeia with rarer Oniscoidichnus, Chondrites, Rhizocorallium irregulare, Taenidium serpentium, an unusual form of Walcottia and Merostomichnites-like traces. These trace fossils display an interesting relationship with the sediments: low-energy Cruziana ichnofacies is found within high-energy sandstones. The sandstones are interbedded with laminated mudstones, apparently deposited in deep water, but some aspects of the ichnoassemblage, preservation and sedimentation indicate shallower water. One new trace fossil, Radichnus allingtona igen. et isp. nov., closely resembles the traces of modern fiddler crabs and imply emergence, by analogy. This ichnofauna is similar to early stage disaster colonisation in recent experiments in Long Island Sound (south of Connecticut, USA) and with storminfluenced deposits within the Cardium Formation (Seebe, Alberta, Canada). This indicates a lagoonal environment with influxes of sand and oxygen. Total organic carbon levels were found to fluctuate greatly between stratigraphic layers but remained relatively high. This implies low oxygen conditions. The abundance of sulphur (in pyrite) also supports an interpretation of anoxic conditions, and low sedimentation rates within the shale layers. A restricted shallow basin or lagoonal environment is proposed for the palaeoenvironment, with fluctuating oxygen influencing diversity.

Five specimens of fossil fish from the Eocene deposits of Monte Bolca, Italy, were selected for preparation by the resin transfer method. The specimens were set in a synthetic resin, leaving the base exposed, and acetic acid was utilised to remove calcareous matrix from the exposed side. The specimens, of diverse genera, were obtained from various collectors from 1847 to 1933 and were therefore of both historical and scientific interest. The matrix blocks containing each fish were known to have been originally adhered onto supporting slabs of the same matrix with an unknown resin, and the joins concealed with a mortar. This paper records successful outcomes, and documents various challenges encountered during the preparation process, together with an account of the materials and techniques utilised. Due to the poor performance of the embedding resin initially chosen, a brief overview of resin types and trials of some of the commercially available alternatives is included.

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