Conodonts, Microfossils, Palaeozoic Era

The second set of four commemorative stamps in the four-year series entitled "Prehistoric Life in Canada" will be released on April 5, 1991 in se-tenant miniature sheets of 20 stamps. The series is chronological and covers an interval of time from 1900 million to 10,000 years ago. The first four stamps in this series were issued as 39-cent denominations on July 12, 1990. This year the stamps depict organisms from approximately 380 to 270 million years ago which have been discovered fossilized in different parts of the country. The first stamp depicts conodonts, believed to be the fossilized mouth parts of small, primitive eel-like creature. They lived in the world's oceans from the late Cambrian Period to the end of the Triassic Period, some 510 to 208 million years ago. Conodonts are among the best fossils for dating rocks due to their abundancy and wide distribution and because they evolved rapidly during their 300 million year history. This series of stamps was designed by Rolf Harder, a Montreal graphic designer. The choice of subjects was made with the assistance of Canadian paleontologists, taking into account the evolutionary importance of the life form, its location in Canada and its visual suitability for depiction on a stamp. Mr. Harder has previously designed two sets of Forts stamps (1983 and 1985), the 1980 Rehabilitation stamp and the recent Parliament definitive stamps.