Special Publication #14

Edited by Clayton E. Ray, David J. Bohaska, Irina A. Koretsky, Lauck W. Ward, and Lawrence G. Barnes

The Lee Creek series of four volumes describes the spectacular array of fossils found at that site. Lee Creek I illustrates the microfossils; Lee Creek II addresses the larger invertebrates; and Lee Creek III is a study of the lower vertebrates, fish, sharks, and reptiles. Lee Creek IV (VMNH Special Publication 14) is a study by ten different authors of marine and terrestrial mammals found at the site. Included are the whales, porpoises, walruses, seals, and land mammals such as cats, bears, camels, tapirs, horses, and mastodons. This is a massive work consisting of eight chapters with hundreds of illustrations of these vertebrates. One chapter includes an illustrated key to the index invertebrates that enable the age of the vertebrates to be determined. A chart illustrating all of the 12 fossil-bearing strata in the pit in their stratigraphic (age) order is included. No paleontological site on the Atlantic Coastal Plain or east of the Mississippi has received as much study and attention as the Lee Creek Mine near Aurora, North Carolina.