The story of the ancient fossil animals and plants that lived in Virginia before the time of the dinosaurs is scarcely known to the public at large, even though numerous papers have been written about these creatures over the past two hundred years. Because most of this information is only available to academics in old scientific journals, the present book is presented to offer a detailed and comprehensive introduction to the largely unpublicized history of the animals and plants that lived in Virginia and nearby Mid-Atlantic States during the very ancient ages before even the dinosaurs had arisen on the world stage. While this book is focused primarily on the ancient fossil history of Virginia, it also extensively covers the fossils known from before the time of the dinosaurs in North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The synthesis presented here provides a detailed summary of the diverse assemblage of fossil animals and plants that lived and died here long before the age of dinosaurs had even begun.