"... I was much struck how entirely vague and arbitrary is the distinction between species and varieties" Darwin 1859

"No term is more difficult to define than 'species,' and on no point are zoologists more divided than as to what should be understood by this word". Nicholson (1872)

"The concept of a species is a concession to our linguistic habits and neurological mechanisms" Haldane (1956)

"The species problem is the long-standing failure of biologists to agree on how we should identify species and how we should define the word 'species'." Hey (2001)

"First, the species problem is not primarily an empirical one, but it is rather fraught with philosophical questions that require - but cannot be settled by - empirical evidence." Pigliucci (2003)

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Peter Loring Borst
128 Lieb Road
Spencer, NY  14883
U S of A

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