Abstract
THE “Palaeontology” of the title would more correctly have been “Palasozoology,” but Prof. Swinnerton doubtless chose the former intentionally because he declines to regard his subject as a mere division of zoology. He does indeed deal with his material in the order of the zoological system, from Protozoa to Primates; but instead of that museum-like arrangement under orders, families, and genera which deadens the usual systematic text-book, he selects in each phylum or class certain characters and traces their origin, progress, and decline. The declaration by a professor and a potential examiner that it is more important for a student “to recognise the evolutionary stage attained by one or more of the individual features in his fossil “than to identify its species or even genus deserves cordial welcome, for a facility in winning marks by fossil-spotting argues a misspent youth.
Outlines of Paleontology.
By Prof. H. H. Swinnerton. Pp. xii + 420. (London: E. Arnold and Co., 1923.) 30s. net.
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BATHER, F. Outlines of Paleontology. Nature 113, 922 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113922a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113922a0