Genealogical synonyms

In such a consideration we have to make use not only of the fact just mentioned, but of three important generalizations which serve as it were as implements for the proper estimation of the relationships of any series of organic forms. First of all there is the generalization that the relationships of the various forms of animals (or of plants) to one another is that of the ultimate twigs of a much-branching genealogical tree.

That doctrine took some few years to produce its effect, but it became evident at once to those who accepted Darwinism that the natural classification of animals, after which collectors and anatomists, morphologists, philosophers and embryologists had been so long striving, was nothing more nor less than a genealogical tree, with breaks and gaps of various extent in its record.

It is to be noted that, whilst the zoological system took the form of a genealogical tree, with main stem and numerous diverging branches, the actual form of that tree, its limitation to a certain number of branches corresponding to a limited number of divergences in structure, came to be regarded as the necessary consequence of the operation of the physico-chemical laws of the universe, and it was recognized that the ultimate explanation of that limitation is to be found only in the constitution of matter itself.

The whole " system " or scheme of classification was termed a genealogical tree (Stammbaum); the main branches were termed " phyla," their branchings " sub-phyla "; the great branches of the sub-phyla were termed " cladi," and the " cladi " divided into " classes," these into sub-classes, these into legions, legions into orders, orders into sub-orders, suborders into tribes, tribes into families, families into genera, genera into species.