关于将“德帕锐定律”改为“德帕锐—裴文中定律”的建议

ON CHANGING THE NAME "DEPERET'S LAW" INTO "DEPERT—PEI'S LAW"

1907年德帕锐她立的“德帕锐定律”,其内容是:“在古生物的每一个小的分支中“,都是从小的体型开始,以后体型逐渐增大,最后达到最大体型。当它们达到最大体型的阶段,这一分支就绝灭了。”1965年,经裴文中研究,该定律修订成:“在古生物的每一个小的分支中,都是从小的体型开始,以后体型逐渐增大。当达到最大体型后又缩小。在缩小的过程中,这一分支开始绝灭”。根据作者的化石标本,糜鹿最大个体可延续到商周时期。尔后,由于人类活动,特别是大片土地被耕耘,迫使麋鹿向中国东南平原迁徙。由于不能抵御敌害的攻击,它们被限制在有限的范围内生活,其数量变得越来越少,相应地个体也变小,最后灭绝。作者认为裴文中的修订与德帕锐的建立同等重要,作者建议将“德帕锐定律”改名为“德帕锐—裴文中定律”。

If we discuss the augmentation in body-size of animal fossils we should first consider Deperet′s Law, that is, the Law of Augmentation of Size established by Charlesl Deperet in 1907: "In a small phylogenetic branch of animal fossils, it began with a small size and from the small-sized form it gradually augmented into its maximum before it went into a decline." But in 1965 Pei Wenzhong modified and made this law in the following form: "In a small phylogenetic branch of animals, it began generally by a small-sized form and later that it developed and increased gradually in size. After it became maximum in size, it would start to decline. That was at the time of diminution of size when the small branch of an animal became extinct or nearly extinct. " According to our fossil meterials, the great size of the Mi-deer was maintained up to Shang-Zhou Dynasties and since then, because of the increasing ot the human activities, particularly of the cultivation of land, they had been compelled to retreat to the plain of S. E. China where they lived in a limited region and with limited food-stuffs. As they were not skilled in defense against their enemy′s attacks, they became the rarer and the rarer, diminishing in size, and finally became extinct. For this reason, the writer thinks that Pei′s modification is as important as Deperet′s establishment, thus propose to change the name "Deperet′s Law" into "Deperet-Pei′s Law."