Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast: Fragrance, Aromatherapy, and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt

By C.J. McCoy, Arthur C. Hulse, Ellen Censky, et al.

Until now, no detailed treatment of the Pennsylvania herpetofauna has ever been published, nor have recent books dealt with the herpetofauna of the entire northeastern United States. Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast is a comprehensive guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the whole region. Each account contains a general description of the species, major color and pattern variations, ontogenetic changes in patterns and appearance, confusing species, range, and ecology and reproductive biology. This guide is intended for use by both amateurs and professionals and allows convenient retrieval of field data and natural history accounts. Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast: * Contains complete and easy-to-use keys to all the reptiles and both the adult and larval amphibians of the Northeast.* Features high-quality photographs to illustrate all species of amphibians and reptiles in the region as well as their significant color variations and life history stages.* Includes detailed spot-distribution maps of each species within Pennsylvania and outline maps of each species' distribution throughout the northeastern United States. * Presents extensive new data on the status and distribution of the amphibians and reptiles of Pennsylvania.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801437687
• ISBN13: 9780801437687
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Comstock Publishing
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Good Supplementary Text

Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast has many good qualities. I ran through the keys with a few salamander and frog species and they are very straight forward, and I did not encounter any mistakes yet. The real selling point for this text is the excellent species accounts. I'm all about scientific names, and having the interpretation of the epithets' meanings is great. The accounts are very detailed and provide a good addition of the ecology of each species which complements the identifications quite well. The range maps are sufficient for the region and the introduction was very informative. There are spelling mistakes, however, throughout the text that are a little frustrating. The color plates are not very diagnostic at all, so this book is best used as a supplemental text to another guide with better illustrations. In the field, I will use this text's keys as the primary identification tool, and then use either the Peterson's or Audubon's herp guide to confirm my identifications. I am a little picky because I do not like to use photographs in my identification process. I much prefer diagrams/illustrations/keys. Being an insect enthusiast primarily, I mostly enjoy working with keys. All and all this is a good text for PA herps, but I feel that I have to remark on the formatting of the text in the book. Sometimes I like to pick up the book and just page through looking at the plates. There are no references below each photo that directs the reader to the corresponding species' accounts. You have to constantly page back to the appendix to find these sections. To solve this problem, I had to write in pencil the pages for each species account under each photograph. Second, it seemed like they were charged for each bold word. There isn't any real demarcation between each species account. Use of bold type, and/or a line separating the species accounts would be nice. Overall I am happy with my purchase, and have been referencing it almost daily. I would recommend this book.

Very Good For Pennsylvania Identification of R & A

The Book is very good for identifing PA species. It contains a good set of color plates, a identication key and text describing the species. The text describing reproduction and habitat is also quite good. The downside of the book is the range maps. Inside of PA the author uses dots at specific locations, outside of Pa the author shades the area that the species occurs in. The specific location dots in PA are not complete. Overall I would recomend this book for people who wish to learn about and identify Pennsylvania's Reptiles and Amphibians.