nomenclature: identifying versus classifying

[Curtis Clark]

At 12:00 PM 10/15/00, Richard Jensen wrote:
>But, because the index numbers are sequentially applied, they
>automatically represent a hierarchy (usually the sequence is a
>chronological sequence based on when each record was created) and do
>provide information about the records (i.e., the order of entry).

Okay, I give up. A list of numbers applied sequentially to items more or
less as they are encountered is equal in informativeness, in every way, to
the Linnaean hierarchy. I guess my first mistake was to assume than the
stuff we do as taxonomists actually mattered.

--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Biological Sciences Department             Voice: (909) 869-4062
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