Animal Species and Their Evolution

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Princeton Legacy Library. Originally published in 1993 (this in turn was a re-issue of the 1954 original).

Long before Charles Darwin undertook his first voyage, animal taxonomists had begun the scientific classification of animals, plants, and minerals. In the mid-1950s, taxonomist A. J. Cain summarized the state of knowledge about the structure of the living world in his major book Animal Species and Their Evolution. His work remains remarkably current today. Here Cain explains each of the terms by which scientists now classify all animals – from species through genus, family, order, class, and phylum.

The work of the modern taxonomist is dependent on the work of paleontologists, field biologists, ecologists, and other specialists who help piece together the puzzle of nature. This seminal text will interest students in each of these areas. It will also appeal to historians of science and to all amateur scientists with an interest in the animal kingdom.

Contents

Preface    
I    Introduction    11
II    Methods of classification    15
III    Rank    27
IV    Names    42
V    The polytypic species    48
VI    The biological species    73
VII    Other sorts of species    98
VIII    Geographical speciation    130
IX    Sympatric speciation    169
    Conclusion    182
    Suggestions for further reading    184
    Afterword (1993)    187
    Index    203

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