390 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 18, No. 2 Early Maine Wildlife: Historical Accounts of Canada Lynx, Moose, Mountain Lion, White-tailed Deer, Wolverine, Wolves, and Woodland Caribou. William B. Krohn and Christopher L. Hoving. 2011. University of Maine Press, Orono, ME. 240 pp. $34.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780891011194. The Northeast, especially Maine, has an exceptionally rich heritage of early literature about wildlife. These writings are buried in obscure scientific books and journals, government documents, rare books, old newspapers, and discontinued sporting periodicals. The primary section of this book is a chronologically arranged compilation of selected quotations from hard tofi nd-sources, this publication makes accessible wildlife writings of early biologists, naturalists, and woodsmen from northern New England and eastern Canada. While designed to be a reference work for biologists, conservationists, folklorists, and historians, this book will also be of use to campers, hunters, trappers, and others interested in the region’s natural history. Early Maine Wildlife puts the historical information presented about the species covered into a contemporary context bye providing lifehistory summaries of the animals. These brief life histories are supported with recent technical bibliographic references for those wanting more detailed scientific information. Although Krohn and Hoving do not provide a thorough analysis of the historical information presented, their book functions as a unique guide to help readers find important early records relating to the biology, distribution, and conservation of four predators and three ungulates. In addition to providing extensive quotations documenting occurrence and status of the featured species, Early Maine Wildlife discusses the pros and cons of using early written records. To give the reader deeper insight into the sources used, biographical sketches portraying the twentyone authors whose writings are most frequently quoted and short histories of the six sporting journals and newspapers most frequently cited in this book are also included. Darwin’s Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution. Ian Mc- Calman. 2010. W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY. 423 pp. $18.95, softcover. ISBN 9780393338775. Award-winning cultural histo- 390 rian Iain McCalman tells the stories of Charles Darwin and his staunchest supporters: Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley, and Alfred Wallace. Beginning with the somber morning of 26 April 1882—the day of Darwin’s funeral—Darwin’s Armada steps back and recounts the lives and scientific discoveries of each of these explorers, who campaigned passionately in the war of ideas over evolution and advanced the scope of Darwin’s work. Checklist of the Beetles of Maine, USA. Christopher G. Majka, Donald S. Chandler, and Charlene P. Donahue. 2011. Empty Mirrors Press, Halifax, NS, Canada. 328 pp. $62 (US), softcover. ISBN 9780969510444. This 328- page checklist of the beetles (Coleoptera) of Maine provides the first comprehensive listing of the 2871 beetles (2466 native Nearctic species, 121 native Holarctic species, and 284 introduced species) recorded in the state of Maine. Four hundred and seventeen are newly recorded in Maine, while 58 are herein excluded from the state faunal list. For each species, a chronological listing includes studies that have recorded it in Maine, and its distribution in the states and provinces of northeastern North America. Full collection data of all specimens for each newly recorded species are included. Recent synonymies and points of particular relevance are indicated in endnotes. For each of the 96 families of Coleoptera, an introductory section discusses bionomics, taxonomic status, previous compilations of information, and the principal reference works that apply to the North American fauna. A photograph of a selected representative is also included. An introductory chapter recounts the history of Coleoptera research in Maine, while a second chapter presents a preliminary overview and analysis of the Maine beetle fauna. References to 1171 publications that pertain to the Maine beetle fauna are provided, as is a table of contents. The index includes 1940 supraspecifi c names of included taxa. The cover is in color; interior pages are in black and white. For those interested in entomology in Maine and neighboring states and provinces, this book will be an indispensable reference. Beetles are the most species-rich order in the world, occupying innumerable ecological niches in virtually every terrestrial and freshwater aquatic ecosystem. Beyond their intrinsic value, and the impor- Noteworthy Books Received by the Northeastern Naturalist, Issue 18/3, 2011 2011 Noteworthy Books 391 tance of conserving wildlife and protecting biodiversity for ecological reasons, beetles are potentially valuable in monitoring for climate change, pollution, anthropogenic disturbance, and ecological integrity. Many are important (either as pests or species of value) in relation to agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and pollination. Monitoring the health of the native fauna, and tracking the dispersal of adventive species (≈10% of the Maine fauna), remain important objectives. This book will be helpful in all these respects. Growing Perennials in Cold Climates. Mike Heger, John Whitman, and Debbie Lonnee. 2011. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. 448 pp. $39.95, softcover. ISBN 9780816675883. This volume is the landmark book on northern perennials, fully updated and expanded. Comprehensive and fully illustrated, Growing Perennials in Cold Climates is an excellent resource for selecting, siting, planting, and maintaining perennials that flourish in northern climates. Written to make even the most sophisticated aspects of growing perennials easy to understand, this book will be indispensable to novice and advanced gardeners alike. Revised and updated, this all-in-one guide designed for northern-tier gardeners from coast to coast features: more than 2000 varieties proven to thrive in cold climates, five-star ratings to help you choose top-performing perennials, new selections of varieties with variegated or brightly colored foliage, and new mail-order sources for hard-to-find varieties of each plant. If you are a gardener and winter temperatures in your region can dip below –20 degrees, this is the one guide you need. Comprehensive and fully illustrated, Growing Perennials in Cold Climates is an excellent resource for selecting, siting, planting, and maintaining perennials that flourish in northern climates. This expanded edition identifies the fifty most popular perennial groups, offers in-depth information on wild and cultivated varieties best suited to cold climates, and rates more than 500 of the choicest plants. In addition to the plant data, this book includes a concise course in perennial gardening, from preparing a site and buying potted perennials to composting, watering, mulching, fertilizing, weeding, staking, deadheading, pruning, protecting plants in winter, companion planting, and dealing with disease and insect problems. Owning this guide is like having a professional gardener at your side every step of the way. Written to make even the most sophisticated aspects of growing perennials easy to understand, this book will be indispensable to novice and advanced gardeners alike. The Beaver: Its Life and Impact, Second Edition. Dietland Müller-Schwarze. 2011. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. 228 pp. $39.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780801450105. The Beaver: Its Life and Impact is designed to satisfy the curiosity and answer the questions of anyone with an interest in these animals, from students who enjoy watching Beaver ponds at nature centers to homeowners and land managers. Color and black-and-white photographs document every aspect of Beaver behavior and biology, the variety of their constructions, and the habitats that depend on their presence. A second edition of The Beaver: Ecology and Behavior of a Wetland Engineer, published by Cornell University Press under its Comstock Publishing Associates imprint in 2003, this book has been revised throughout and includes a new section on population genetics and features updated data about the Beaver’s range in North America, reintroduction efforts in Europe, and information about the world’s largest Beaver dam, discovered in northern Alberta in 2010 and visible from space, as well as the most current bibliography on the subject. As this book shows, the Beaver is a keystone species—their skills as foresters and engineers create and maintain ponds and wetlands that increase biodiversity, purify water, and prevent large-scale flooding. Biologists have long studied their daily and seasonal routines, family structures, and dispersal patterns. As human development encroaches into formerly wild areas, property owners and government authorities need new, nonlethal strategies for dealing with so-called nuisance Beavers. At the same time, the complex behavior of Beavers intrigues visitors at parks and other wildlife-viewing sites because it is relatively easy to observe. Moss Flora of the Maritime Provinces. Robert R. Ireland. 2011. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON, Canada. (Reprint of 1982 publication of the National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, ON, Canada). 800 pp. $399.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780226564364. Ireland’s Moss Flora of the Maritime Provinces is still one of the best moss-identification references ever published. Very comprehensive, with clear, easy to use keys and excellent illustrations. 392 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 18, No. 2 The Golden-Bristled Boar: Last Ferocious Beast of the Forest. Jeffrey Greene. 2011. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA. 192 pp. $22.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780813931036. The wild boar appears to us as something straight out of a myth. But as Jeffrey Greene learned, these creatures are very real, living by night and, despite shrinking habitats and hordes of hunters, thriving on six continents. Greene purchased an eighteenth-century presbytery in a region of ponds and forests in northern Burgundy between the Loire and Seine Rivers of France. He soon discovered he’d moved to one of the most densely populated boar areas in Europe. Following the gift of a side of boar from a neighbor, and a dramatic early-morning encounter with a boar-hunting party and its prey, Greene became fascinated with the animal and immersed himself in the legend and the reality of the wild boar. Although it has no natural enemies, the boar is in constant conflict with humans. Most societies consider it a pest, not only wreaking havoc on crops and livestock, but destroying golf-course greens in search of worms, and even creating a hazard for drivers (hogs on the roads cause over 14,000 car accidents a year in France). It has also been the object of highly ritualized hunts, dating back to classical times. The animal’s remarkable appearance—it can grow larger than a person, and the males sport prominent tusks, called “whetters” and “cutters”—has inspired artists for centuries; its depictions range from primitive masks to works of high art such as Pietro Tacca’s Porcellino and paintings by Velázquez and Frans Snyders. The boar also plays a unique role in myth, appearing in the stories of Hercules and Adonis as well as in the folktale Beauty and the Beast. The author’s search for the elusive animal takes him to Sardinia, Corsica, and Tuscany; he even casts an eye to the American South, where he explores the boar’s feral-pig counterparts and descendents. He introduces us to a fascinating cast of experts, from museum curators and scientists to hunters and chefs (who share their recipes) to the inhabitants of chateaux who have lived in the same ancient countryside with generations of boars. They are all part of a journey filled with wonders and discoveries about these majestic animals the poet Robinson Jeffers called “beautiful monsters.” A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir. Donald Worster. 2011. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. 544 pp. $22.95, softcover. ISBN 9780199782246. Donald Worster’s A Passion for Nature is the most complete account ever written of the great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club. It is the first to be based on Muir's full private correspondence and to meet modern scholarly standards, yet it is also full of rich detail and personal anecdotes, uncovering the complex inner life behind the legend of the solitary mountain man. It traces Muir from his boyhood in Scotland and frontier Wisconsin to his adult life in California right after the Civil War up to his death on the eve of World War I. It explores his marriage and family life, his relationship with his abusive father, his many friendships with the humble and famous (including Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson), and his role in founding the modern American conservation movement. Inspired by Muir’s passion for the wilderness, Americans created a long and stunning list of national parks and wilderness areas, Yosemite most prominent among them. Yet the book also describes a Muir who was a successful fruit-grower, a talented scientist and world-traveler, a doting father and husband, and a self-made man of wealth and political influence. The winner of numerous book awards, A Passion for Nature was also named a Best Book of 2008 by Washington Post Book World. It is the first comprehensive biography of Muir to appear in six decades. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson. 2011. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. 312 pp. $100, hardcover. ISBN 9781421401355. Who was Richard Kemp, after whom the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle is named? Is Wake's Gecko named after Berkeley's Marvalee Wake? Or perhaps her husband, David? Why do so many snakes and lizards have Werner in their name? This reference book answers these and thousands of other questions about the origins of the vernacular and scientific names of reptiles across the globe. From Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti, the Florida Cottonmouth subspecies named for Roger Conant, to Xantusia, the night lizard genera namesake of John Xantus, this dictionary covers everyone after whom an extant or recently extinct reptile has been named. The entries include a brief biosketch, a list of the reptiles that bear the individual's name, the names of reptiles erroneously thought to be associated with the person, and a summary of major—and sometimes obscure or even incidental—contributions made by the 2011 Noteworthy Books 393 person to herpetology and zoology. An introductory chapter explains how to use the book and describes the process of naming taxa. Easy to use and filled with addictive—and highly useful—information about the people whose names will be carried into the future on the backs of the world's reptiles, The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles is a handy and fun book for professional and amateur herpetologists alike. Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding: Understanding What you See and Hear. Kenn Kaufman. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA. 448 pp. $21, softcover. ISBN 9780547248325. Birders can memorize hundreds of details and still not be able to identify birds if they don’t really understand what’s in front of them. Today birders have access to almost too much information, and their attempts to identify birds can be drowned out by excess detail. The all-new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding takes a different approach, clarifying the basics and providing a framework for learning about each group. Overall principles of identification are explained in clear language, and ten chapters on specific groups of birds show how these principles can be applied in practice. Anyone with a keen interest in identifying birds will find that this book makes the learning process more effective and enjoyable, and that truly understanding what we see and hear can make birding more fun. Hummingbirds and Butterflies. Bill Thompson III and Connie Toops. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA. 288 pp. $14.95, softcover. ISBN 9780618904457. Hummingbirds and butterflies are some of the most beautiful visitors to a backyard, but they can also be some of the most elusive. This second collaboration between the Peterson Field Guide series and Bird Watcher’s Digest includes tips on how to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to backyards—and how to identify them once they’ve arrived. Bill Thompson III and Connie Toops have decades of firsthand experience and have written the book in a fun, lighthearted style, providing both amateur and veteran nature watchers with need-to-know information, including where hummingbirds and butterflies live, what they eat, and the best garden plants to attract them. The species profiles of the 15 most common hummingbirds and 40 most common butterflies serve as a field guide, showing ranges, identifying marks, and preferred habitats. Full-color photographs and detailed drawings make attracting, identifying, and feeding these colorful creatures a snap. Marianne North: A Very Intrepid Painter. Michelle Payne. 2011. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 96 pp. $17, softcover. ISBN 9781842464304. Marianne North was an English naturalist and remarkable botanical artist who traveled to more than a dozen countries in the course of more than a decade spent painting the tropical and exotic plants of the world. Despite having no formal artistic training and a rather unconventional technique, North documented her subjects in situ with a scientific accuracy that continues to impress botanists today. More than eight hundred of her detailed, brightly colored paintings are displayed in Kew’s Marianne North Gallery, which was built under her patronage and opened in 1882. Fully illustrated and including a stunning eight-page fold-out, this engaging and accessible account provides an overview of North’s spirited work, life, and travels as well as a concise history of the popular gallery—newly restored and refurbished— where almost all her paintings hang. The Marianne North Gallery is among Kew’s finest attractions, and this exquisite volume captures its magic to perfection. Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects. Nicholas V.C. Polunin (Editor). 2008. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. 512 pp. $170, hardcover. ISBN 9780521833271. Concern about future supplies of fresh water to society, to meet the full range of human needs, now comes very high on the priority list of global societal issues. An overarching issue, which this book addresses, is whether global climate change is a dominant driver of change in the structure and function of all natural water-based ecosystems, or whether direct human population growth and accelerated consumption are playing an equal or greater role. This book divides the whole aquatic realm into 21 ecosystems, from those on land (both saline and fresh water) to those of the open and deep oceans. It draws on the understanding of leading ecologists to summarize the state and likely condition by the year 2025 of each of the ecosystems. Written for academic researchers and environmental professionals, the aim is to put the climate change debate into a broader context as a basis for conservation science and planning. 394 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 18, No. 2 The Northeastern Naturalist welcomes submissions of review copies of books that publishers or authors would like to recommend to the journal’s readership and are relevant to the journal’s mission of publishing information about the natural history of the northeastern US. Accompanying short, descriptive summaries of the text are also welcome. Ecology, Second Edition. Michael L. Cain, William D. Bowman, and Sally D. Hacker. 2011. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 648 pp. $119.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780878934454. The overarching goal for the new Second Edition of Ecology was to enhance how the book works as a learning tool for students and as a teaching tool for professors. Toward that end, the authors updated, replaced, or cut sections of the text as appropriate, and added the following new pedagogical features: 1) Climate Change Connection—Climate change has broad ecological effects with important implications for conservation and ecosystem services. Roughly two-thirds of the Second-Edition chapters include a major climate change example (many of which are new) and students are directed to additional content on the Companion Website. These Climate Change Connections discuss how the example students just read about connects to other levels of the ecological hierarchy, while enriching the student’s understanding of ongoing climate change. 2) Ecological Toolkit—Many chapters include an Ecological Toolkit that describes ecological “tools” such as aspects of experimental design, remote sensing and GIS, mark–recapture techniques, stable isotope analysis, DNA fingerprinting, etc. 3) Error bars have been added to figures where appropriate. 4) Figure Legend Questions—Each chapter includes 3–6 Figure Legend Questions, highlighted in color at the end of the legend. These questions encourage students to make sure they understand the figure’s content. Questions range from those that test whether students understand the axes or other simple aspects of the figure to those that ask students to evaluate hypotheses. 5) Hands-On Problems—This popular feature of the Companion Website asks students to manipulate data, explore mathematical aspects of ecology in more detail, interpret results from real experiments, and analyze simple model systems using simulations. The Second Edition includes both revised and new Hands-On Problems. In choosing topics for the Hands-On Problems, as well as for the In-Class Exercises (see next bullet), the authors have attempted to address common student misconceptions or preconceptions. 6) In-Class Exercises—For the Second Edition, a new type of inquiry exercise has been added. These are ready-to-go active teaching and learning problems that can be used in class or as homework. Many are brief, taking about 10 minutes. Aquatic Plants of Pennsylvania: A complete Reference Guide. Timothy A. Block and Ann Fowler Rhoads. 2011. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA. 400 pp. $59.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780812243062. From the Delaware River to the shores of Lake Erie, Pennsylvania’s diverse watery habitats are home to more than 200 species of aquatic plants. In Aquatic Plants of Pennsylvania: A Complete Reference Guide, botanists Timothy A. Block and Ann Fowler Rhoads have assembled the first identification guide specific to the Keystone State yet useful throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Organized and written in a way that will make information easily accessible to specialists and nonspecialists alike, the book highlights the diversity and vital ecological importance of this group of plants, providing photographs, illustrations, descriptions, and identification keys for all emergent, floating-leaved, and submergent aquatic plants found in the Commonwealth. An introductory chapter on aquatic plant ecology covers topics such as evolution, form, and reproduction of aquatic plants, vegetation zones, types of aquatic ecosystems, and rare and endangered species. Information on invasive plants, such as Eurasian water-milfoil and curly pondweed, that threaten Pennsylvania's aquatic ecosystems will be especially useful to watershed organizations, citizen monitoring projects, lake managers, and natural resource agency personnel. An illustrated identification key guides the reader through a series of steps to properly identify a specimen based on its characteristics. Each of the more than 200 listings provides a plant’s taxonomy, detailed description, distribution map, and expert botanical illustrations. Many also include color photographs of the plants in their natural habitats.