Abstract:  This paper examines four facets of stratigraphic terminology and usage considered faulty and proposes corrective measures. The four perfectible areas are:
(1) The system of dual nomenclature requiring discrete terminologies for the superpositional and temporal aspects of rock units.
(2) The premise that a GSSP establishes the base of a stage as being coincident with the top of the preceding stage rather than simply defining it as the boundary between stages.
(3) The rejection of supplementary (auxiliary) sections that would broaden the knowledge of a GSSP and enlarge the area in which it is easily usable.
(4) The current dual system of nomenclature for Precambrian and Phanerozoic strata is accepted, but a third system is proposed for strata formed in the last 3 to 5 Ma.
In addition, the paper advocates a broader use of a limited number of conventions but warns against their proliferation; units shortened thereby would be more difficult to recognize. It points out the clear distinction between these conventions - a matter of administration and general compliance - and knowledge - a domain where free expression of opinion is indispensable -.

 Errata:  Some errors were encontoured in the above Article. Corrections are listed below. Editors and authors apologize for any inconvenience.

1- Abstract: The sentence "The current dual system of nomenclature for Precambrian and Phanerozoic strata is accepted" should read: "The current different system of subdivision for Precambrian and Phanerozoic strata is accepted". 

2- Figure 2: The words "Lower" and "Upper" in the lower line should obviously read "Early" and "Late" respectively. 

3- Figure 3: The words "Main Hierarchy", lower line of the left column, should read "Sub Hierarchy".

 Abstract:  This paper reports the discovery of an incomplete proboscidean mandible near the village of Maroniá in eastern Crete. The fragment described here includes the first molar (m1) of a deinothere, that because of its large size is identified as Deinotherium giganteum. The specimen was found in shallow-water marine sediments. The presence of Deinotherium on the island, together with other Miocene vertebrate faunas, suggests that during that epoch Crete was connected to the mainland by a wide land bridge.

 Abstract:  A succession of developmental types in the lophophores of lingulid brachiopods is reported from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang deposits of South China. These types range from trocholophe, schizolophe to simple coiled spirolophe. Of Atdabanian age, this succession of forms is mirrored in the ontogeny of the lophophore of Recent linguloids, thus demonstrating a close similarity in the development of the lophophores of Cambrian and Recent forms. We illustrate also more than 10 extraordinary specimens with aberrant dispositions of the lophophoral arms that extend to unusual lengths either inside or outside the shell.

 Abstract:  The in vitro production of ooid-like structures as possible precursors of oolites has been observed in laboratory cultures of spherical microbial communities isolated from the Wadden Sea (North Sea). The microbial spherulites consist of aggregated benthic diatoms (Navicula perminuta) enveloped by layers of filamentous cyanobacteria of the genus Phormidium and a halo-like biofilm of heterotrophic bacteria. The development of the structures takes several months and these configurations appear to be stable, before they calcify. The precipitation starts on the surface of the spheres as clouds of small scattered crystals, which later increase in size and aggregate to form hollow spheres around the microbial assemblage. Here we report for the first time carbonate precipitation in defined spherical microbial communities.

 Corrigendum:  The authors take this opportunity to rectify a failure to credit Professor-Doctor Heribert CYPIONKA of the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany, as the author of the videofile "Cyanobacterial movement inside a biomicrosphere". The videofile in question is one of a number of interesting documents put online by Professor CYPIONKA at: http://www.icbm.de/pmbio/mikrobiologischer-garten/eng/index.php3

 Abstract:   The deep-water fauna of the Mediterranean is characterized by an absence of distinctive characteristics and by a relative impoverishment. Both are a result of events after the Messinian salinity crisis (Late Miocene). The three main classes of phenomena involved in producing or recording these effects are analysed and discussed:
- Historical: Sequential faunal changes during the Pliocene and thereafter in particular those during the Quaternary glaciations and still in progress.
- Bathymetric: Changes in the vertical aspects of the Bathyal and Abyssal zones that took place under peculiar conditions, i.e. homothermy, a relative oligotrophy, the barrier of the Gibraltar sill, and water mass movement. The deeper the habitat of a species in the Mediterranean, the more extensive is its distribution elsewhere.
- Geographical: There are strong affinities and relationships between Mediterranean and Atlantic faunas. Endemic species remain a biogeographical problem. Species always become smaller in size eastward where they occupy a progressively deeper habitat.
Thus, the existing deep Mediterranean Sea appears to be younger than any other deep-sea constituent of the World Ocean.