Re: Stupid "Theories"

[DinoBoyGraphics@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/24/2004 3:23:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
mightyodinn@yahoo.com writes:

> > one odd one i remeber reading somewhere is that they died out becuase they'd
> > come to an evolutionary end...and the proof of this was all the odd frills
> and
> > horns and spikes...bizzare ornamentation which showed that they had gone
> > insane and were just evolving rediculour forms...or maybe that was from a
> > dream after eating some rather nasty cheese...one can 
> never be sure!
> 
> Right ... wasn't it termed "racial senescence"?

Yes, and is conceptionally referred to as "phyletic senescence" as well (e.g. 
historical discussions in Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory.  It 
flowed from internalist models of evolution, like recapitulation; Cope was a 
big fan of it.

Scott Hartman
Zoology & Physiology
University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY 82070

(307) 742-3799