Abstract
STUDENTS of life in the past have followed with interest a course of three lectures on “Palseobiology and Evolution”, which have just been given at University College, London, by Prof. O. Abel, of the University of Vienna. The first lecture, delivered on November 24, dealt with the methods and aims of palaeobiology. Prof. Abel stressed the importance of regarding even fossil animals as living creatures. Leaving aside the problems of phylogeny, with which palaeontologists have so largely concerned themselves, he concentrated his discussion on what might perhaps be called the ecology of past ages. He showed how, from such evidences as tracks in the sand, fractured or diseased bones or small invertebrates imprisoned in amber, one can piece together a picture of the conditions of life and habits of animals now known only by their fossil remains. His second lecture was entitled “Palaeobiology and Phylogeny”; in the third, a life-picture of the fauna of the Great Ice Age was presented.
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Evolution in the Light of Past Ages. Nature 132, 850 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132850b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132850b0