Pioneer Naturalists: The Discovery and Naming of North American Plants and Animals

Fledgling naturalists and readers with a taste for trivia will have a field day with this volume. Evans ( Life on a Little-known Planet ) introduces more than 100 people who have lent their monikers to the scientific nomenclature of North American plants and animals. The entries range from a mere paragraph to full-length chapters, from famous naturalists John James Audubon, William Bartram, David Douglas, Thomas Nuttall to their lesser-known associates and plant collectors like John Xanthus and Gideon Lincicum. We learn that Franklin's gull was named for Sir John, not Benjamin; that Merriam's mouse wasn't discovered until after the spring trap was invented. This collection of eponyms gives an impressive portrait of the field science establishment of the 18th and 19th centuries. Illustrations. ( Oct.)