crocodile tears

[Prof. Dov Por]

Dear taxacomers,
For the last days I am following  with much apprehension the intensive
exchange on our web. I cannot resist to quote Goethe's Faust "Grau lieber
Freund ist jede Theorie und Gruen des Lebens goldner Baum" ( Grey my friend
is all theory and green is life's golden tree - my free translation  with
Johann Wolfgang's kind permission). Allas , the problem is not new.
We are discussing endlessly subjects that are  often esotherical, while
before   the   windows  of our ivory towers  the helpless species are dying.
Instead of shedding crocodile tears  about it and go on  building our
cladograms , it would be more bioethical to go to the field,
collect,describe,preserve   and leave the   dealing with nomenclatural
revolutions and discussions about sister groups for a later stage.
Dov Por
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Prof.Francis Dov Por
Department of Evolution,Systematics and Ecology
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
home 23 Kubovy 96757 Jerusalem
voice 972.2.6410421
fax 972.2.6416831
e-mail : dovpor at netvision.net.il