[Abstract] Approaches to animal communication have for the most part been quite different in semiotics and evolutionary biology. In this context the writings of a leading evolutionary biologist who has been also attracted to semiotics — John Maynard Smith — are an interesting exception and object of study. In my presentation I will focus on the use and adaptation of semiotic terminology in Maynard Smith’s works with reference to general theoretical premises both in semiotics and evolutionary biology. In developing a typology of animal signals, Maynard Smith employs the concepts of icon, index and symbol to denote distinct signal classes. He uses «indices» or «indexes» to express a signal type where the relation between signal properties and...