If you want to use these data in a publication, I strongly advise that you contact me first because they pertain to an analysis from 1998. So, they will not accurately reflect the latest analysis and calibration of the current version of the database.
If you just want to analyze diversity or body mass time series data and don't cae about the details, please use the more up-to-date, complete, and sampling-standardized time series data I published in Paleobiology (2000, v. 26, pp. 707-733). These data can be downloaded in the form of a Word HQX file.
The appearance event files each include 3221 lines, one for each genus or species that occurs in two or more lists. Genera and species that only are found in one list are not included. These data were used in my papers from 1996 (Palaeo3) and 1998 (Geology, i>Science, and the Biodiversity Dynamics book), but not in any of my later papers.