Part II 



THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



CHAPTER 7 



The Principles of Taxonomy 



At present nearly one million species of animals have been identified. 

 Probably several million more (mostly very small organisms) remain to 

 be named. Such a variety makes it necessary to have a systematic method 

 for naming and recording what is already known, lest species be named 

 several times over, or the same name be assigned to different species. 

 The accumulation of knowledge recorded in an unambiguous fashion is 

 essential to scientific progress. Research upon an organism loses value 

 just as surely if the author fails to record exactly what kind of animal 

 he studied, as if he fails to describe adequately his experimental methods 

 or results. 



40. The Science of Taxonomy 



The proper naming of organisms (plant and animal) is the province 

 of the science of taxonomy. Biological literature is so extensive today 

 that only an expert on a particular group of species can hope to be 

 informed of its taxonomy. If, for example, a zoologist should find a 

 population of lizards that were new to him, he might first search the 

 literature to see whether or not his lizards were already named. In order 

 to do this he would have to be familiar with the details of the many 

 aspects of their structure, and with the usage of the descriptive ter- 

 minology employed, so that he could compare them with the published 

 descriptions. If he failed to locate any description that fitted his lizards, 



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