Selected Records of Reptiles and Amphibians from Kansas

Hobart Muir SmithProject Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

Rating 2.9
Word count
25K words
Chapters
3

Tags

Motivation and Growth Animal BehaviorNorth American EcologyNatural HistorySpecies RecordsScience EnlightenmentNature ObservationIllustrated GuideGeography ScienceField NotesKansas Landscape

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Selected Records of Reptiles and Amphibians from Kansas by Breukelman and SmithAuthor: Smith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir), 1912-2013,Language: English, Class: QH: Science: Natural history, Release Date: Dec 3, 2010

Editor's review

This is a short academic document on records of reptiles and amphibians from Kansas; the author, Hobart M. Smith, was an important twentieth-century American herpetologist. The book is not popular natural-history writing for a general audience but a documentary text based mainly on field records; its value lies in providing original observational clues to species distribution in a specific region, useful as reference for faunal surveys and compilation of local species lists. Because of its limited length and record-style format, the reading experience is closer to consulting literature than to continuous narrative. The free electronic edition from Project Gutenberg makes it easy to obtain and suitable as supplementary material for regional zoological research. It should be noted that such records are limited by survey time and place and cannot be treated as a complete illustrated guide to the state's species. For professional readers, it is verifiable primary material; for general readers, it may seem dry and informationally demanding.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. First locate record sites on a map, then read against the local species list to better understand distribution information
  2. Use it for reference rather than reading straight through, searching relevant passages by species or region
  3. Note doubtful entries while reading, then check them against updated taxonomic literature
  4. If lacking a taxonomic background, first build up basic terminology for reptiles and amphibians before starting

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

FAQ

Can these records be used as a species guide for Kansas? No. They are a documentary text based on specific surveys, with limited coverage and time span, and cannot represent all species in the state. They are suitable as distribution clues or historical reference; identifying species still requires specialized guides and keys, combined with the latest taxonomic revisions.
Can ordinary nature enthusiasts understand it? There is a certain barrier. The text is mainly records, lacking explanations and illustrations for a general audience, and involves taxonomic terminology. If you are merely curious about local species, first read popular natural-history books as a foundation; once you have the basics, use these records as supplementary reference material.
Why choose the Gutenberg electronic edition? Project Gutenberg provides free electronic text that is convenient to obtain and suitable for quick consultation and searching. However, the layout is plain and there are no modern annotations; when citing, you must verify the original source and taxonomic changes yourself, and it is advisable to use it together with literature in academic databases.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Hobart Muir Smith Author · American · 1912–2013

Hobart Muir Smith (1912–2013) was an American herpetologist, born in Stanwood, Iowa, and is regarded as the most prolific herpetologist in history. Over his career he described more than one hundred new species of American reptiles and amphibians, published over 1,600 papers and 29 books, and taught at the University of Rochester, the University of Illinois, and the University of Colorado. The library holds five of his works, covering topics such as records of reptiles and amphibians from Kansas, hybridization between two species of garter snakes, kyphosis and other variations in soft-shelled turtles, the systematic status of Eumeces pluvialis Cope, and the tadpoles of Bufo cognatus Say. These writings reflect a rigorous research style centered on taxonomy and morphological variation. They are mostly original research records and hold reference value for the study of the classification and variation of American reptiles and amphibians; public information on other details of his life is limited.