Kategoria BISAC: Nature >> Reference

Originally written in the Aztec language, Nahuatl, in 1552, this classic codex was the first herbal and medical text compiled in the New World. The author of this extraordinarily rare and valuable document was Martin de la Cruz, an Aztec physician, whose work was subsequently translated into Latin by an Aztec nobleman, Juan Badiano.
The book was translated into English in 1939 by William Gates. In these pages are centuries-old Aztec remedies for boils, hair loss, cataracts, insomnia, sore throats, hiccups, gout, lesions, wounds, joint diseases, tumors, and scores of other ailments. Over...

One cannot help being struck with wonder at the vivid pink of 10,000 flamingos rising from Lake Nakuru or the glowing red gorget of a ruby-throated hummingbird feeding outside the kitchen window. How birds produce the brilliant and striking coloration of their feathers and other body parts is the focus of this first volume of Bird Coloration. It has been more than 40 years since the mechanisms of color production of birds have been reviewed and synthesized and in those 40 years new pigments have been discovered, new genetic mechanisms have been described, new theories have been...

Mostly tiny, infinitely delicate, and short-lived, insects and their relatives--arthropods--nonetheless outnumber all their fellow creatures on earth. How lowly arthropods achieved this unlikely preeminence is a story deftly and colorfully told in this follow-up to the award-winning For Love of Insects. Part handbook, part field guide, part photo album, Secret Weapons chronicles the diverse and often astonishing defensive strategies that have allowed insects, spiders, scorpions, and other many-legged creatures not just to survive, but to thrive.

In sixty-nine chapters,...

Birds have long held a unique dual role as a model group for scientists and as the focus of birders' passionate quests. Despite centuries of observation, each year brings the discovery and description of several entirely new avian species and hundreds of other taxonomic "splits" or "lumps" based on DNA data. In this arena of continual and increasing taxonomic change, The Clements Checklist presents the most up-to-date and most widely endorsed compendium of the more than 9800 species of birds recognized by the scientific and birding communities.

This completely revised sixth...

The most thorough treatment of lizards of the United States and Canada when first published in 1946, Handbook of Lizards has become a landmark among herpetologists and lizard specialists. Hobart M. Smith spent years compiling and organizing information on 136 species of lizards for this classic study. With more than 300 illustrations, including black-and-white photographs, labeled drawings, range maps, and illustrated keys, this volume serves as a still-relevant and convenient reference guide to the study of North American lizards. Darrel Frost, a prominent lizard specialist,...

Dragonfly Genera of the New World is a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive guide to the taxonomy and ecology of dragonflies in North, Middle, and South America. A reference of the highest quality, this book reveals the striking beauty and complexity of this diverse order.

Although Odonata--dragonflies and damselflies--are among the most studied groups of insects, until now there has been no reliable means to identify the New World genera of either group. This volume provides fully illustrated and up-to-date keys for all dragonfly genera with descriptive text for each...

There is no group of birds more mysterious and fascinating than owls. The loudmouths of the raptor world, they peep, trill, toot, bark, growl, shriek, whistle, chittle, whoop, chuckle, boom, and buzz. Indeed, very few actually -hoot.- They have become the stuff of lore and legend--from the Roman myth that an owl foot could reveal secrets to the First Nations belief that an owl feather could give a newborn better night vision. But the truth about owls is much more exciting.

In this gorgeous book, celebrated natural history writer and wildlife photographer Wayne Lynch reveals the...

Authoritative yet easy to use, Handbook of Mammals of the South-Central States will be a close companion of field biologists and a ready reference for the naturally curious. Containing a wealth of information about mammalian wildlife in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, the book describes in detail ninety-five native mammals and eight introduced species that live in that region.

The south-central United States is both diverse and complex ecologically, including within its range coastal and inland swamps, mountain peaks, forests, grasslands,...

Pennsylvania, a state of diverse geography and geology, is rich in flora. The second edition of The Plants of Pennsylvania identifies the nearly 3,400 species of trees, wildflowers, ferns, grasses, sedges, aquatic plants, and weeds native to or naturalized in the Commonwealth.

Retaining the clearly written identification keys and descriptions that made the first edition such an essential reference, this new edition has been reorganized to reflect recent advances in our understanding of plant relationships. Families and genera are listed in a sequence determined by current...

Because of its central situation in the Eastern United States and the variety of habitats to be found within its borders, Kentucky has an interesting mixture of mammals, including some characteristic of the Deep South, the West, and the North. All 63 species native to the state are described and illustrated in this volume, the fifth in a series of guides to the wildlife of Kentucky.

The book is conveniently arranged by orders, families, and species, and identification is facilitated by illustrated keys and by a series of dramatic color photographs. In the account of each species,...