involved in a famous controversy with the geologist William Buckland (1784–1856) about the nature of The Flood as described in the Bible. In 1828, he published his History of British Animals. This book addressed not only extant, but also fossil species. It explained the presence of fossils by climate change, suggesting that extinct species would have survived if weather conditions had been favorable. These theories contributed to the advancement of biogeography, and exerted some influence on Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Flemings' comments on instinct in his book Philosophy of Zoology had influenced Darwin. In 1831, Fleming found some fossils which he recognized as fish in the Old Red Sandstone units at Fife. This did not fit the generally accepted notion that the Earth was approximately 6,000 years old. Partial list of publications 1821: Insecta in Supplement to the fourth, fifth and sixth editions of the Encyclopae-dia Britannica, with preliminary dissertations on the history of the sciences 1822: Philosophy of Zoology (Volume 1, Volume 2) 1828: A History of British animals, exhibiting the descriptive characters and systematical arrangement of the genera and species of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusca, and radiata of the United Kingdom, including the indigenous, extirpated , and extinct kinds, together with periodical and occasional visitants Edinburgh: i–xxiii + 1–565. 1837: Molluscous Animals 1851: The Temperature of the Seasons, and Its Influence on Inorganic Objects, and on Plants and Animals Partial list of described taxa Superfamily: Conoidea Fleming, 1822 Family: Conidae Fleming, 1822 Subfamily: Coninae Fleming, 1822 Species in the phylum Mollusca described by Fleming: Chiton laevigatus Fleming 1813 Patella elongata Fleming 1813 Patella elliptica Fleming 1813 Doris nigricans Fleming 1820 Heterofusus retroversus Fleming 1823 Octopus octopodia (Linné 1758 : Sepia) Fleming, 1826 Bulla cranchii Fleming 1828 Eolidia plumosa Fleming 1828 Modiola vulgaris Fleming 1828 Lima fragilis Gmelin 1791 sensu Fleming, 1828 Lutraria vulgaris Fleming 1828 Gastrochaena hians Fleming 1828 Patella clealandi Fleming 1828 Assiminea grayana Fleming 1828 Scissurella crispata Fleming 1828 References External links Brief biography/timeline Scottish zoologists Scottish entomologists Scottish geologists 1785 births 1857 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland People from West Lothian Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews 19th-century British geologists 19th-century British zoologists Vitalists