The value of life history data in the study of the evolution of the amphibia

New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1927. First edition.

1927 EARLY ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPH ON ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY OF APHIBIA REFLECTING THE EARLY HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY ("EVO-DEVO").

9 1/2 inches tall offprint in brown printed paper wraps, pencil signature of Arthur Greenhall top of cover, pp 31-128, 30 black & white figures in text, 1 photographic plate, cover edges chipped, text pages lightly browned, binding sound, unmarked, very good minus.

GLADWYN KINGSLEY NOBLE (1894 –1940) was an American zoologist who served as the head curator for the Department of Herpetology and the Department of Experimental Biology at the American Museum of Natural History. Noble received bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University in 1917 and 1918, respectively, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1922. He joined the herpetology department in 1922 as a research assistant and assistant curator in 1917, and became the chairman of the department in 1924. He later formed the Department of Experimental Biology in 1928, and served as the chairman of both departments until his death in 1940. This monograph emphasizes the importance of ontogeny (embryonic or larval development) in determining the evolutionary history (phylogeny) of the amphibia, an early study of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") that did not flourish until the incorporation of cell biology and molecular genetics in the 1970s.

PROVENANCE: ARTHUR GREENHALL (1911-1998) was a zoologist known for his work with reptiles and bats, as well as his recordings of animal sounds. He also recorded events and activities in his own life. He partnered with Daniel Crowley to record calypso songs and life in Trinidad. Some of the tapes included in this collection are the master tapes for the later released Sounds of Animals (FX 6124), produced by Folkways Records.