Ichnos, 12:313–314, 2005 Copyright c  Taylor & Francis Inc. ISSN: 1042-0940 print / 1563-5236 online DOI: 10.1080/10420940500311129 BOOK REVIEW Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast Reviewed by Stephen T. Hasiotis University of Kansas, Department of Geology, Lawrence, Kansas, USA Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast, Diane K. Gibbons, 2003, University Press of New England, Hanover, 137 p., US$ 16,95. ISBN 1-58465-242-x (paperback). Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast (MTSN) is meant to be used as a field guide, summarizing the different types of mammal tracks and signs in the New England area of the north- eastern United States, including also New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. This book also covers parts of eastern Canada that border these states. This book is a nice piece of work based on the experiences of Diane Gibbons, and her interactions with and illustrations provided by her tracking collaborators, includ- ing Tom Brown and Paul Rezendes. MTSN is small enough to be carried into the field in a large pocket of a field vest or pants, or it can be rolled up and slipped into the side pocket of a day pack. The material, consisting of mammal tracks, partial trackways, scat and associated signs or traces of life, and is well presented with actual-size line drawings, charcoal pencil sketches and range maps of track occurrences based on known animal dis- tributions. Also included are sketches of animals involved in some of the activities that produced the signs of life presented in MTSN. Gibbons indicates rightfully that studying tracks and other signs allows the observer to learn more about predator-prey interactions, breeding activity and various types of behavior of different organisms. Tracking is useful to the hunter, wildlife biologist or anyone learning more about the mammals whose landscape we share. MTSN contains eight main sections; 1) an introduction, 2) an identification key to mammal tracks, 3) general compression shapes or track impression produced by various trackmakers, 4) the main descriptive section of all tracks and sign, 5) comparison pages, 6) a breeding-season chart, 7) notes, and 8) a combined bibliography. Interestingly, nearly all observations for this book were made by Gibbons during the winter in snow when tracks and signs are visible and relatively well preserved. She discusses when and why some tracks and trackways are better preserved than others, which can produce variable looking tracks, partic- Address correspondence to Stephen T. Hasiotis, University of Kansas, Department of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66045-7613. E-mail: hasiotis@ku.edu ularly since melting or freezing snow can do much to the track morphology. The descriptive sections are listed by family and common name of species, such as Virginia opossum, eastern chipmunk and shrews. There seems to be no particular order to these sections, which in itself is somewhat distracting. The introduction establishes the purpose of the text and why tracking is a fun and important activity. Many discussions in this section are reminiscent of basic concepts and principles in ich- nology developed from studying trace fossils. The introduction also discusses how the identification key was produced and how it is to be used to identify mammals from their tracks and signs. An important subsection here is the “Definition of Terms,” which includes certain relevant words with which many ichnologists may not be familiar. Leading toe, negative space, asymmetrical vs. symmetrical track, and direct and indirect register are just a few of the terms defined and illustrated for the reader. This section also contains good illustrations of such common track and trackway morphologies as trail width, stride and gait, and how they vary between a walk, gallop, direct register and indirect register. One problem here is that Gibbons says track patterns in- dicate species even if you do not have clear tracks. What is more likely to be attainable from tracks and track patterns are family- or genus-level identification rather than species. However, sev- eral genera in the text are monospecific, at least within the north- east, so the identification pages lead the user to identify species. The key to mammal-track identification is interesting and a nice model potentially for ichnologists to follow in developing identification keys for major types of trace-fossil morphology. Gibbons developed a dichotomous key for identifying mammal tracks that is similar to one developed for plants. Her key is simple and leads the user through a series of morphologies and mammal identifications from the simplest tracks of two toes to the most complex, corresponding to five toes with distinct pads or webbing impressions. For example, the user starts at the be- ginning of the key that asks if the track has two (line 1A) or more toes (line 1B). If the track in question has two toes, then the reader goes to line 2; if more, the reader is directed to line 4. If the track had two toes and is kidney shaped (line 2A), the morphology keys out to elk and the reader is directed to the page 104. Readers can identify which mammal track they are likely to be studying by the process of elimination and comparing the charcoal pencil 313