The variety of life : a survey and a celebration of all the creatures that have ever lived

Part 1: so many goodly creatures classification and the search for order the natural order - Darwin's dream and Hennig's solution data Clade, grade, and a plea for neolinnean impressionism. Part 2: from two kingdoms to three domains the domain of the prokaryotes - bacteria and archaea the domain on the nucleus - the eucaryota mushrooms, moulds and lichens - rusts, smut and rot - the kingdom of the fungi the animals - kingdom animalia anemones, corals, jellyfish and sea-pens - phylum cnidaria clams and cockles, snails and slugs, octopus and squids - phylum mollusca animals with jointed legs - phylum anthropoda lobsters, crabs, shrimps, barnacles, and many more besides - subphylum crustacea the insects - subphylum insecta spiders, scorpions, mites, water-scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders - subphylum chelicerata and subphylum pycnogonida starfish and brittle stars, sea urchins and sand dollars, sea lilies, sea daisies and sea cucumbers - phylum echinodermata sea-squirts, lancelets, and vertebrates - phylum chordata sharks, rays and chimaeras: class chondrichthyes the ray-finned bony fish - class actinopterygii lobefins and tetrapods - the sarcopterygii the reptiles - paraphyletic class reptilia the mammals - class mammalia Lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys and apes - the order of the primates human beings and our immediate relatives - family hominidae the birds - class aves the modern birds - subclass neornithes the plants - kingdom plantae the flowering plants - class angiospermae daisies, artichokes, thistles and lettuce - family compositae alias asteraceae epilogue.