CHAPTER I. The Iconography of an Expectation
CHAPTER II. A Background for the Burgess Shale
LIFE BEFORE THE BURGESS: THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION AND THE ORIGIN OF ANIMALS
LIFE AFTER THE BURGESS: SOFT-BODIED FAUNAS AS WINDOWS INTO THE PAST
THE SETTING OF THE BURGESS SHALE
CHAPTER III. Reconstruction of the Burgess Shale: Toward a New View of Life
THE CHRONOLOGY OF A TRANSFORMATION
Inset: Taxonomy and the Status of Phyla
Inset: The Classification and Anatomy of Arthropods
Act 1. Marrella and Yohoia: The Dawning and Consolidation of Suspicion, 1971–1974
The Conceptual World That Whittington Faced
Act 2. A New View Takes Hold: Homage to Opabinia, 1975
Act 3. The Revision Expands: The Success of a Research Team, 1975–1978
Setting a Strategy for a Generalization
Derek Briggs and Bivalved Arthropods: The Not-So-Flashy but Just-As-Necessary Final Piece
Act 4. Completion and Codification of an Argument: Naraoia and Aysheaia, 1977–1978
The Ongoing Saga of Burgess Arthropods
Continuing the March of Weird Wonders
SUMMARY STATEMENT ON THE BESTIARY OF THE BURGESS SHALE
DISPARITY FOLLOWED BY DECIMATION: A GENERAL STATEMENT
ASSESSMENT OF GENEALOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS FOR BURGESS ORGANISMS
THE BURGESS SHALE AS A CAMBRIAN GENERALITY
PREDATORS AND PREY: THE FUNCTIONAL WORLD OF BURGESS ARTHROPODS
THE ECOLOGY OF THE BURGESS FAUNA
THE BURGESS AS AN EARLY WORLD-WIDE FAUNA
THE TWO GREAT PROBLEMS OF THE BURGESS SHALE
CHAPTER IV. Walcott’s Vision and the Nature of History
THE BASIS FOR WALCOTT’S ALLEGIANCE TO THE CONE OF DIVERSITY
THE MUNDANE REASON FOR WALCOTT’S FAILURE
THE DEEPER RATIONALE FOR WALCOTT’S SHOEHORN
WALCOTT’S GENERAL VIEW OF LIFE’S HISTORY AND EVOLUTION
THE BURGESS SHOEHORN AND WALCOTT’S STRUGGLE WITH THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION
CHAPTER V. Possible Worlds: The Power of “Just. History”
GENERAL PATTERNS THAT ILLUSTRATE CONTINGENCY
THE BURGESS PATTERN OF MAXIMAL INITIAL PROLIFERATION
EVOLUTION OF THE EUKARYOTIC CELL
THE FIRST FAUNA OF MULTICELLULAR ANIMALS
THE FIRST FAUNA OF THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION
THE SUBSEQUENT CAMBRIAN ORIGIN OF THE MODERN FAUNA