A "kerosene"-type method was applied for sample preparation. Samples were soaked in a 1% solution of sodium pentametaphosphate, boiled, sieved (these first steps reduced the volume of sample and, thus, the amount of environmentally harmful organic liquid that needed to be used), then dried at ~60°C and soaked while still warm in an liquid organic fuel (in this case grill lighter fluid, as kerosene was not obtainable from our supplier). The liquid was then decanted and sodium pentametaphosphate solution added. Sample breakdown was sometimes quite rapid at this stage. Further processing by repeated cycles of boiling, ultrasound, and sieving were applied as needed to complete breakdown of samples. The >38-µm residues were pipetted onto glass slides, dried, embedded in Canada balsam, and covered with standard (0.17 µm) coverslips. Slides were examined with a Zeiss Axioskop using 100x-600x magnification. A relatively cursory initial survey of all 98 slides was made to check overall abundance of coarse-fraction components and radiolarian faunas. Abundances were estimated semiquantitatively (abundant, common, few, rare, etc., where each major rank corresponds approximately to a factor of four difference in abundance). A low-resolution subset of slides was then examined in detail for biostratigraphy, and additional slides were selected as needed to better constrain individual events. Thus, a total of 33 slides were examined in detail for biostratigraphy, although of these, only 22 had reasonably well preserved radiolarian faunas. Occurrences of selected taxa were noted for each examined slide. Emphasis was given to overall assemblage taxonomic characteristics and to the occurrence of known stratigraphic markers. No attempt is made here to provide a comprehensive survey of the full diversity of the assemblages; only the most common or stratigraphically most significant taxa were recorded. Given the frequently poor preservation and rarity of stratigraphic indicators, semiquantitative abundance data was collected only for samples with (relatively) abundant, well-preserved faunas; for more poorly preserved assemblages or for taxa in noncritical intervals, only presence-absence data was recorded, although it was recorded if the taxon was represented by a single specimen or by more than one specimen. Images of selected radiolarian specimens were made with a video camera and frame-grabber imaging system (~450 lines of camera resolution) and copied in their original digital form to form the plate figures.