I mean reductionism: This often-abused term is sometimes used incorrectly to imply that one can ignore complexities and completely reduce one discipline into another. No one should attempt to understand Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” from the perspective of the laws of physics. A good discussion of reductionism in the sense that I am using it here can be found in Weinberg 1992.

the British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane is cited: Eg, Hutchinson 1959.

a fresh water ameboid: Given that the genome determination was done with earlier methods, it may be somewhat uncertain; McGrath and Katz 2004.

The basic idea underlying natural selection: A comprehensive book is Bell 2008. See also Endler 1986.

In a letter to Darwin: Darwin and Seward 1903.