Consulting Editor^ s Statement 



There is nowadays a refreshing tendency, well exemplified by 

 Professor Pimentel's book, to regard "nature" as a whole rather 

 than as the sum of its parts. The origin of the earth itself and the 

 development of its physical features are just as much a part of 

 Nature Study as are observations made on the living things which 

 inhabit the planet. Moreover, all these things are, as Professor 

 Pimentel so clearly indicates, part of a logical train of events which 

 started in the remote past and is even now continuing. This is not 

 to say that the book is strung on the familiar thread of evolution. 

 Evolution becomes apparent to the student as the events themselves 

 unfold. 



The wide sweep of this approach does not in any way obscure the 

 details that are given. The student who seeks, as he should, a clear 

 understanding of the classification and interrelationship of living 

 organisms will find them both explained and outlined in taxonomic 

 summaries. Indeed, this new addition to the Reinhold Books in 

 THE Bioi.OGiCAL SCIENCES welds theoretical background and prac- 

 tical detail into an unusually coherent whole. 



Peter Gray 



