Comments on Taxonomy, Independence, and Mathematical Models (With Reference to a Methodology of Machol and Singer)

SUMMARY

Some principles of statistics, and of science more generally, are presented in a taxonomic context. Some previously promised criticism of the approach of Machol and Singer, additional to that of Kiefer, is given in the framework of a broader discussion that may serve to alert mycologists to some of the dangers that attend the use of unjustified mathematical models, and to suggest bases for future numerical taxonomy.