From the days of greatest antiquity. mankind has recognised the distinctive common attributes shared by living things, and has attempted to relate these groups together by devising classification systems - the science of taxonomy or systematics. Much contemporary systematics invokes continuity in order to construct continuous transformational series. By contrast, the taxic or typological paradigm, which can be traced to the pre-Darwinian era, has gained preference over the transformational one in some secular circles [10; reviewed in 42). This is leading to a systematics independent of evolutionary theory [4]. The types are thus considered as distinct morphological forms, sharing a common structural plan, and in which embryology is of prime concern [59]. Creationists also adopt a typological paradigm, in which the types are identified with the originally-created Genesis Kinds. The contribution of embryology to these issues is here reviewed and assessed. Particular data include hybridisation studies, egg surface structure, cleavage patterns, cell lineage and fate maps, egg capsule structure, larval ontology, sperm morphology and developmental mechanisms.
