Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection to explain the process of evolution. Natural selection refers to unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce based on suitability of their inherited characters to prevailing environmental conditions; option D is incorrect. According to inheritance of acquired characters, a theory given by Lamarck, individual acquire characters under influence of needs as posed as changing environmental conditions; these characters are inherited. He explained evolution the long-necked giraffes from short-necked giraffes on the basis of his theory; option B is incorrect. John Ray proposed the typological species which is defined as a group of organisms that are morphologically similar irrespective of their breeding compatibility. It determines species as a static entity which can interbreed within their limit of variations and hence, is also termed as static concept; option A is incorrect. Haeckel coined the term phylogeny to refer study of ancestral relationship, lineages and that of evolutionary history of a taxonomic group; he built the first genealogical tree of life and proposed the biogenetic law which states that ontogeny repeats phylogeny. Here, ontogeny refers to life history of an individual and phylogeny is the history of evolution of the individual; option C is correct. Thus, the correct answer is option C.