66 The Nature of Biological Diversity 



preparing this essay that the task was, not so much to present new 

 facts as to try to get a certain amount of perspective into the contribu- 

 tions that biochemistry, especially on the comparative side, can make 

 toward the solution of evolutionary problems. Not unnaturally, most 

 space has been spent on matters with which he has had a good deal 

 of personal experience. An attempt has been made to point out some 

 of the shortcomings and some of the dreams, trials, disappointments, 

 and tribulations of a comparative biochemist. But in spite of all these 

 it is still possible to believe that if the recent upward swing of interest 

 in comparative biochemistry can be maintained, it will in the end 

 prove its ability to make valuable contributions to that most biological 

 of all biological theories, the theory of evolution. 



References 



Anfinsen. C. B., and F. H. White (1961), The ribonueleases: occurrence, structure 

 and properties in The Enzymes, Academic Press, Inc., New York, vol. 5, pp. 95- 

 122. 



Arnold, A., and J. M. Luck (1933), Studies on arginine. HI. The arginine content 

 of vertebrate and invertebrate muscle, J. Biol. Chem., 99:677-691. 



Baldwin, E. (1937), An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry, 1st ed., Cam- 

 bridge University Press, London and New York. 



(1949), An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry, 3d ed., Cambridge 



University Press, London and New York, p. 65. 



(1958), Ureogenesis in elasmobranchs, Nature (London), 181:1591-1592. 



(1960), Ureogenesis in elasmobranch fishes. Com p. Biochem. Physiol., 



1:24-37. 



, and D. M. Needham (1937), A contribution to the comparative biochemistry 



of muscular and electrical tissues, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), B, 122:197-219. 

 , and W. H. Yudkin (1950), The annelid phosphagen: with a note on phos- 



phagen in Echinodermata and Protochordata, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), B, 



136:614-631. 

 Balinsky, J. B., and E. Baldwin (1961), The mode of excretion of ammonia and 



urea in Xenopus laevis. J. Exp. Biol., 38:695-705. 

 , M. Cragg, and E. Baldwin (1961 ), The adaptation of waste nitrogen excretion 



to desiccation, Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 3:236-244. 

 Bell, D. J., and E. Baldwin (1941), The chemistry of galactogen from Helix pomatia 



as a component of a polysaccharide of animal origin. J. Chem. Soc, 1941:125- 



132. 

 Brown, G. W., and P. P. Cohen (1960), Comparative biochemistry of urea synthesis. 



3. Activities of urea-cycle enzymes in various higher and lower vertebrates, 



Biochem. J., 75:82-91. 

 Brown, H., F. Sanger, and R. Kitai (1955), The structure of pig and sheep insulin, 



Biochem. J., 60:556-565. 

 Calvin, M. (1957), Chemical evolution and the origin of life, in The Origin of Life 



on the Earth, Rep. Internat. Symp., Publ. House, Acad. Sci. USSR, pp. 338-350. 

 Cragg, M., J. B. Balinsky, and E. Baldwin (1961), The comparative study of nitrogen 



excretion in some amphibia and reptiles, Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 3:227-235. 



