Trace fossils have found a new home in the world wide web thanks to Paolo Monaco of the University of Perugia <pmonaco@unipg.it>. The website, entitied Metalchnology 1.3, is a sample of a multimedia stand-alone program created with the same title by Dr. Monaco as a short course on ichnology. The complete version is available in CD-ROM. I did not have the opportunity to see and work with that complete version so my comments here will only concern the website.

Metalchnology is in the ltalian language, although the author promises an English version coming soon. lt is a basic introductory course on ichnology, which I think is better suited for sedimentary geologists and paleontologists without an ichnological background, or to students who want (or have) to learn the basics of trace fossils.

The site is organized in 9 sections (plus an introductory page). Section 1, Sulla storia dell'chnologia (On the history of ichnology) jumps from Brongniart and Nathorst to the 1950s and 60s and the birth of modern ichnology with the development of ethologic and toponomic classifications and the mode of ichnofacies. Sections 2, 3 and 4, Il movimento alla base della forma delle tracce (Movement as the base of trace morphology), Alcuni aspetti fondamentali (Some fundamental aspects) and Le attività nella diversificazone delle trace (Activity in trace diversity) deal with some of the basic principies of ichnology and trace construction. Sections 5 and 6, La barriera di fossilzzazione (The fossilization barrier) and Alcuni fattori di preservazione (Some preservational factors) discuss some aspects of taphonomy of trace fossils. Section 7, Per capire come si formano certi burrows (Understanding how certain burrows are formed) is a description of the way certain animals construct their burrows. Finally, section 8, Le ichnofacies, discuss the different ichnofacies and their meaning. Section 9, Le applicazioni (Applications), is still under preparation.

The sections are illustrated by drawings and pictures. Some of them wili be familiar to most ichnologists as they are borrowed from previous publications (as the author of the website always indicates) but there are also many wonderful trace-fossil pictures taken by the author.

Metalchnology includes a great amount of information but there are some important lacks that could be filled in future versions as for example continental ichnofacies, ichnofabrics or bioerosion, to produce a more complete course on ichnology. Detailed reading reveals also some mistakes in the use of certain terminology that shouid also be corrected.

Metalchnology reinforces the presence of ichnology on the Web. lt summarizes well some of the main aspects of the basic framework of ichnology and it provides an interesting additional tool for ichnology courses.