ABSTRACT
Palaeontologists studying the fossil record found no evidence for a gradual process of speciation. New fossil species appeared suddenly in different geological strata, and just as suddenly disappeared without trace. Georges Cuvier and Charles Lyell were aware of the disappearance of fossil species when geological formations were compared. Extinction of species is a major concern for conservationists and ecologists interested in species diversity. The extinction of species by deliberate human activity is not a new problem: Lyell in the early 19th century was aware that Man is, in truth, continually striving to diminish the natural diversity of the stations of animals and plants, in every country, and to reduce them all to a small number fitted for species of economic use. Palaeontologists who follow the tracks of evolution as it appears in the geological fossil record fail to find evidence for a continuum of transitional stages between species.
