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The Natural Conditions of Existence as they Affect Animal Life

Abstract

THIS is in many respects one of the most interesting contributions to zoological literature which has appeared for some time. The author is well known as an accomplished anatomist and microscopist who, after spending some years in exploring the fauna of the Philippine and neighbouring islands, returned to Europe, and having been appointed to the Chair of Zoology in Würzburg, set himself to work at the morphological problems which so largely occupy at present the attention of anatomists. His most remarkable productions in this department have been his speculations and observations on the segmentation of animals and on the origin of the vertebrate kidney. But Prof. Semper has the advantage of being something more than an anatomist; as a traveller and one who has seen and studied life under most varied conditions, he has thought much and collected many facts bearing upon the problem of the influence of changed conditions of life in modifying the structure of animals submitted to those conditions.

The Natural Conditions of Existence as they Affect Animal Life.

By Karl Semper, Professor in the University of Würzburg. International Scientific Series. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., 1881.)

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LANKESTER, E. The Natural Conditions of Existence as they Affect Animal Life . Nature 23, 405–409 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/023405a0

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