"Most books on biodiversity still subscribe to the Great Chain of Being, with evolutionary advancement proceeding inexorably from bacteria (at the beginning of the book) to human beings (at the end). Phylogeneticists Will have no truck with this, however, as all branches on aphylogenetic tree can be rotated ad libitum. So, although bacteria are primal in this book, humans are penultimate, with the ultimate life form being ray-finned fishes". David Morrison, "Tree of Life: A Phylogenetic Classification", Society of Systematic Biology, 2007. "Bacterium make the difference ", Anonymous, 1915 circa
