On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection

Autorentext

Alfred Russel Wallace was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist, and illustrator who lived from 8 January 1823 to 7 November 1913. His own development of the theory of evolution through natural selection is what made him most famous. Charles Darwin's earlier papers on the subject were also excerpted in his 1858 paper, which was published in the same year. In response, Darwin rapidly wrote an abstract of the "great species book" he was composing, which he then published in 1859 as "On the Origin of Species. Beginning in the Amazon River basin, Wallace conducted considerable fieldwork. The Wallace Line, which divides the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts and is now known as the Wallace Line, was discovered by him while conducting fieldwork in the Malay Archipelago. In the western portion, where the animals are large and of Asian origin, and in the eastern portion, where the fauna reflects Australasia. He is frequently referred to as the "father of biogeography," or more specifically, of zoogeography, and was thought to be the foremost authority on the geographic distribution of animal species in the 19th century.

Klappentext

This early work by Alfred Russel Wallace was originally published in 1858 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties' is a landmark article on Wallace's ideas of natural selection in relation to evolutionary theory. Alfred Russel Wallace was born on 8th January 1823 in the village of Llanbadoc, in Monmouthshire, Wales. Wallace was inspired by the travelling naturalists of the day and decided to begin his exploration career collecting specimens in the Amazon rainforest. He explored the Rio Negra for four years, making notes on the peoples and languages he encountered as well as the geography, flora, and fauna. While travelling, Wallace refined his thoughts about evolution and in 1858 he outlined his theory of natural selection in an article he sent to Charles Darwin. Wallace made a huge contribution to the natural sciences and he will continue to be remembered as one of the key figures in the development of evolutionary theory.