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First Published in 1999. Alice Middleton Boring was a remarkable woman who lived and worked in remarkable times. This feisty, head-strong scientist spent her life teaching biology in China, during some of the most tumultuous times in the country's history. Alice found herself continually distracted from science by civil war, revolution, the Japanese occupation, World War II (involving her internment and repatriation), and the upheaval which resulted in the creation of a new, socialist society. Nevertheless, throughout the turmoil she continued to publish scientific papers. In spite of her experiences, she remained deeply influenced by her time in China long after her return to the United States. Loyalty to the Chinese and an almost evangelical appreciation of her adopted culture permeated the rest of her personal and professional life.
For millennia, humans have regarded snakes with an exceptional combination of fascination and revulsion. Some people recoil in fear at the very suggestion of these creatures, while others happily keep them as pets. Snakes can convey both beauty and menace in a single tongue flick and so these creatures have held a special place in our cultures. Yet, for as many meanings that we attribute to snakes—from fertility and birth to sin and death—the real-life species represent an even wider array of wonders. The Book of Snakes presents 600 species of snakes from around the world, covering nearly one in six of all snake species. It will bring greater understanding of a group of reptiles that hav...
Many Japanese once revered the wolf as Oguchi no Magami, or Large-Mouthed Pure God, but as Japan began its modern transformation wolves lost their otherworldly status and became noxious animals that needed to be killed. By 1905 they had disappeared from the country. In this spirited and absorbing narrative, Brett Walker takes a deep look at the scientific, cultural, and environmental dimensions of wolf extinction in Japan and tracks changing attitudes toward nature through Japan's long history. Grain farmers once worshiped wolves at shrines and left food offerings near their dens, beseeching the elusive canine to protect their crops from the sharp hooves and voracious appetites of wild boars...
James Hillhouse was born in 1687/88 at Free Hall in Ulster, Ireland, the son of John and Rachel Hillhouse. He studied theology at Glasgow University, then returned to Ulster where he was ordained by the Reverend Presytery of Londonderry. He was living at Boston, Massachusetts, by 1720 and accepted a position at New London, Connecticut, in 1722. He married May Fitch, daughter of Captain Daniel and Mary Sherwood Fitch, in 1726. They had four children, 1726-1735. He died in 1740. Descendants lived in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, Missouri, and elsewhere.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Chicago Area, first published in 1947, is the classic work on the snakes, frogs, salamanders, turtles, and other "herps" of the Chicago region. Illustrated throughout with detailed drawings and organized into the major groups (Amphibians: Salamanders and Frogs; Reptiles: Lizards, Snakes, and Turtles), each species found in the region is described, with extensive information on its life-history, habitat requirements, and food preferences. Author Clifford Pope (1899-1974) was a prominent American herpetologist who was curator of the Amphibian and Reptile Division of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
New species of animal and plant are being discovered all the time. When this happens, the new species has to be given a scientific, Latin name in addition to any common, vernacular name. In either case the species may be named after a person, often the discoverer but sometimes an individual they wished to honour or perhaps were staying with at the time the discovery was made. Species names related to a person are ‘eponyms’. Many scientific names are allusive, esoteric and even humorous, so an eponym dictionary is a valuable resource for anyone, amateur or professional, who wants to decipher the meaning and glimpse the history of a species name. Sometimes a name refers not to a person but...