-
Furacan Hairycain
“Hurricane: 1550s, a partially deformed adoptation from Sp. huracan (Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, “Historia General y Natural de las Indias,” 1547-9), furacan (in the works of Pedro Mártir De Anghiera, chaplain to the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and historian of Spanish explorations), from an Arawakan (W. Indies) word.* In Portuguese,…
-
Some natural things
The name “Phoenician” comes from the Greeks, who used the word phoinix, purple, to describe a people renown for their purple cloth. Tyrian purple, royal purple, came from a couple of species of murex snails. It was the soft mollusks themselves, not their shells (as in the purple wampum of the hardshell clam of the…
-
Summer Whine
You spend years underground sucking on tree roots. And then, three to seven years after birth (accounts differ; species differ), you dig your way up out of the ground. How do you know when to do this? You’re in your fifth instar stage, by the way, when you do. Assuming you haven’t been concreted over,…
-
Thought
“If earth’s social organisms are scored by complexity of communications, division of labor, and intensity of group integration, three pinnacles of evolution stand out: humanity, the jelly-fish-like siphonophores [e.g. Portuguese Man o’ War], and a select assemblage of social insect species.” ~ E.O. Wilson
-
Further Extracts of a Sub-Sub-Librarian
I live in Brooklyn, located on the westernmost end of Long Island, but I also have a family connection to another island east of here. I graduated from high school on Nantucket, Mass., back in the last century, and go there still with some frequency. Between here and there there’s also a geographical connection: both…
-
Here be Whales
Thar she blows! Megaptera novaeangliae. We were off the Atlantic Highlands of New Jersey on board the Whale and Dolphin cruise of the American Princess out of Riis Landing at Fort Tilden on the Rockaways. And we saw a humpback whale spouting and rounding its bulk through the water. Whoa! A whale within sight of…
-
Inside and Outside
I read somewhere recently that we, all of us, are always within two or three feet of a spider. There are untold billions of them in the world, and some of them do like the comforts of a less an immaculately kept house. This is one of (at least) two species that likes my bathroom.Right…
-
Turtles in trees?
Come to think of it, I’ve now seen two turtle shells in crotches of trees in Prospect Park. One was just within hand’s reach, the other required a friend and a stick to bring it back down to earth. Considering the number of turtle shells I’ve seen in the park, two in the trees is…
-
Two wasps
Both of these were spotted in Central Park:Bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). These are the social wasps that make the large, football-shaped paper nests you see in trees, especially in winter. The nests are completely inactive in winter and unused the following year. The wasp is chewing the old wood of this tree; it’s how they…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 