Comstock Classic Handbooks – serie

Having spent years studying turtles in their native habitats, Archie Carr brought together a wealth of information in this celebrated volume. Organized in clear and concise fashion, written in an engaging and lively manner, and furnished with black-and-white photographs, drawings, and maps, Handbook of Turtles (first published in 1952) gives a comprehensive summary of 79 species and subspecies of North American turtles. In the foreword to 1995 paperback edition, J. Whitfield Gibbons, renowned ecologist and natural history author, brings the book into historical perspective and supplies information to bring it up to date.In the introduction, Carr considers such topics as turtle physiology, reproduction, growth, adaptation, and behavior. The introduction also includes discussions of methods for collecting specimens, the evolutionary origins of turtles, and the mythology and folklore surrounding the turtle. The second part of the volume is organized according to keys that give identifying characteristics, life histories, and illustrations of each species. Under headings of geographical range, distinguishing features, description, habitat, habits, breeding, feeding, and economic importance, the volume provides detailed accounts of the various species and subspecies. Throughout Carr offers colorful recollections and anecdotes about his fieldwork and research.

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, provides a foreword for the 1995 paperback edition that underscores the work's relevance for herpetology today.In the first section, Smith covers in concise fashion the habits, life history, habitats, methods of collection and preservation, and structural features of lizards. The second section of the book considers each species under topics that are conveniently arranged for studying both living lizards and laboratory specimens: range, type, locality, size, color, scalation, recognition characters, habitat and habits, and references. Smith also discusses problems for further study and gives recommendations for special investigations of each species. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography.

Despite their abundance in many parts of North America, salamanders have generally been neglected by all but a few specialists. In this book—first published in 1943—Sherman C. Bishop discusses in a lively but authoritative manner the 126 species and subspecies of salamanders that are known to exist in the United States, Canada, and Baja California.Group by group, Bishop describes salamanders in accounts that give the common and technical names, type of locality, range, habitat, size, anatomical characteristics, color, breeding habits, and relationships—all in a uniform arrangement that makes the handbook especially convenient for studying both living animals and laboratory specimens. His brief introduction surveys the relationships and general habits of salamanders and gives information on collecting and preserving them. In his foreword to the 1994 reprint edition, Edmund D. Brodie, Jr., a specialist on salamanders, updates the taxonomy of the group.

The preeminent naturalists Albert Hazen Wright and Anna Allen Wright spent years assembling the wealth of material on frogs and toads appearing in this widely used handbook, the third edition of which was originally published in 1949. With abundant black-and-white photographs, colorful descriptions, journal notes from the field, and excerpts from the literature, their personalized natural history emphasizes amphibians observed in the wild. In a foreword to the 1995 paperback edition, Roy McDiarmid, a foremost specialist on frogs and toads, brings the book into historical perspective and supplies information to bring it up to date.Accounts of more than 100 species and subspecies cover such topics as common and scientific names, range, habitat, size, and general appearance, as well as color, structure, voice, and breeding. Separate keys are given for secondary sexual characteristics, eggs, tadpoles, families, and species. Generous quotations from the Wrights' field journals give the reader a sense of the problems and satisfactions of their work.

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, provides a foreword for the 1995 paperback edition that underscores the work's relevance for herpetology today.In the first section, Smith covers in concise fashion the habits, life history, habitats, methods of collection and preservation, and structural features of lizards. The second section of the book considers each species under topics that are conveniently arranged for studying both living lizards and laboratory specimens: range, type, locality, size, color, scalation, recognition characters, habitat and habits, and references. Smith also discusses problems for further study and gives recommendations for special investigations of each species. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography.

Having spent years studying turtles in their native habitats, Archie Carr brought together a wealth of information in this celebrated volume. Organized in clear and concise fashion, written in an engaging and lively manner, and furnished with black-and-white photographs, drawings, and maps, Handbook of Turtles (first published in 1952) gives a comprehensive summary of 79 species and subspecies of North American turtles. In the foreword to 1995 paperback edition, J. Whitfield Gibbons, renowned ecologist and natural history author, brings the book into historical perspective and supplies information to bring it up to date.In the introduction, Carr considers such topics as turtle physiology, reproduction, growth, adaptation, and behavior. The introduction also includes discussions of methods for collecting specimens, the evolutionary origins of turtles, and the mythology and folklore surrounding the turtle. The second part of the volume is organized according to keys that give identifying characteristics, life histories, and illustrations of each species. Under headings of geographical range, distinguishing features, description, habitat, habits, breeding, feeding, and economic importance, the volume provides detailed accounts of the various species and subspecies. Throughout Carr offers colorful recollections and anecdotes about his fieldwork and research.

For years Albert Hazen Wright and Anna Allen Wright traveled extensively, attempting to observe every species of snake in North America in its natural surroundings and collecting data and live specimens. Their exhaustive research resulted in a famous two-volume sourcebook, first published in 1957. Abundantly and painstakingly illustrated by the authors, this personalized natural history organizes for ready reference a wealth of information on American and Canadian snakes.Across the two volumes of Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada are accounts of more than three hundred species and subspecies, accompanied by photographs, drawings, and distribution maps. Generous excerpts from the authors' field journals give the reader a vivid feeling of some of the satisfactions and conclusions of the Wrights' search.Volume I features an introductory section in which the Wrights cover snake names and such features of their biology and behavior as range, size, longevity, distinctive characteristics, color, habitat, period of activity, breeding, ecdysis, food, venom and bite, and enemies. It also includes an informative new foreword written for the 1994 reprint edition by Jonathan A. Campbell, a leading expert on snakes. The main section of Volume I comprises in-depth accounts of twenty-nine snake species, from Leptotyphlopidae (blind snakes) to Opheodrys (green snakes).Volume II includes species accounts of nineteen species, from Oxybelis (pike-headed tree snakes) to Sistrurus (ground rattlesnakes, pigmy rattlesnakes, and massasaugas), as well as a glossary and an index for both volumes