Vol. 2 : Cret - Hab. - 240 p.

In The Hopes of Snakes, Lisa Couturier celebrates the stories of forgotten, overlooked animals who have adapted nobly to city and suburban life in the Northeast. With sharp perception and deep humanity, she has found what is so remarkable in the nature we see most often and illuminated it like no one before her. The Hopes of Snakes is an eloquent and powerful debut by one of the best new writers exploring nature in the humanized landscape.

Vol. 2 : Arachnids, Birds, Crustaceans, Insects and Molluscs. - 320 p.

Animals obviously cannot have a right of free speech or a right to vote because they lack the relevant capacities. But their right to life and to be free of exploitation is no less fundamental than the corresponding right of humans, writes Julian H. Franklin. This theoretically rigorous book will reassure the committed, help the uncertain to decide, and arm the polemicist. Franklin examines all the major arguments for animal rights proposed to date and extends the philosophy in new directions. Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy begins by considering the utilitarian argument of equal respect for animals advocated by Peter Singer and, even more favorably, the rights approach that has been advanced by Tom Regan. Despite their merits, both are found wanting as theoretical foundations for animal rights. Franklin also examines the ecofeminist argument for an ethics of care and several rationalist arguments before concluding that Kant's categorical imperative can be expanded to form a basis for an ethical system that includes all sentient beings. Franklin also discusses compassion as applied to animals, encompassing Albert Schweitzer's ethics of reverence for life. He concludes his analysis by considering conflicts of rights between animals and humans.

Vol. 2 : Protostomes. - 589 p.

Mammals, is one book in the Britannica Illustrated Science Library Series that is correlated to the science curriculum in grades 5-8. The Britannica Illustrated Science Library is a visually compelling series that covers earth science, life science, and physical science in 16 titles. Created for ages 10 and up, each title provides an overview on a subject and thoroughly explains it through detailed and powerful graphics-more than 1,000 per volume-that turn complex subjects into information that students can grasp. Each title contains a glossary with full definitions for vocabulary help and an index.

Vol. 3 : ill. - 406 p.

Georges Cuvier was an eminent French naturalist and zoologist best known for establishing the scientific disciplines of comparative anatomy and palaeontology. A man from humble origins, born into a Protestant family, Cuvier excelled in his studies as a youth, becoming a tutor to a Protestant noble in Normandy after four years at the Caroline Academy in Stuttgart. From this position, which kept him at a distance from the more tumultuous events of the French Revolution, Cuvier established connections with the leading naturalists of his day, and in 1795 was appointed as a research assistant to the newly founded chair in comparative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Shortly thereafter, Cuvier was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences within the Institut de France, from which point his success and reputation grew. In 1799 he was appointed professor at Collège de France, and became titular professor himself at the Jardin des Plantes in 1802. In 1806 he became a foreign member of the Royal Society in London, and was appointed to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1812. Cuvier’s scientific achievements are manifold. He was the first to establish extinction as a natural and historical fact, and his ’catastrophist’ theory of geology eventually won out over the gradualist theories of his contemporaries Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Étienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire. His best-known work is the Le Règne Animale (The Animal Kingdom, 1817).

The book presents up-to-date information on all the species and subspecies of turtles (7 species), lizards (112 species) and snakes (74 species) inhabiting the territory of North Eurasia. The North Eurasia region is considered as former Soviet Union and Mongolia territories in accordance with the decision of IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) of June 2003. In this richly illustrated book, we tried to reflect the results of new taxonomic and phylogenetic revisions that have not previously been included in herpetological monographs published in Russian and referred to this region. Detailed geographic distribution information, with schematic maps, data on type localities and conservation status (IUCN and regional Red lists, Cites, Bern convention) are included in each species account. The present atlas can be used as illustrated reference manual of the reptiles of North Eurasia. The data provided could serve as a basis for Global Reptiles Assessment (GRA). More than 400 color illustrations are included in the atlas (photos of reptiles, habitats and maps).

Кафедра общей физической географии и палеогеографии Московского университета много лет изучает опорные разрезы новейших отложений СССР. Эти исследования осуществляются сопряженным методом, одним из важнейших компонентов которого являются палеофаунистические исследования. Палеофаунистические материалы,помещенные в этом сборнике, собраны авторами в трех удаленных друг от друга районах СССР: Центральной Якутки, Приазовье и на Верхней Волге. Располагая большим фактическим материалом, авторы провели тщательную его обработку и сравнение с эталонными коллекциями Геологического, Палеонтологического, Зоологического институтов АН СССР и Зоологического музея МГУ. При обработке цифровых данных использовались методы вариационной статистики. Наибольший эффект они дали при изучении мелких млекопитающих Якутии. .Использование критериев достоверности позволило уловить различия в морфологии верхне плейстоценовых и голоде новых грызунов. Многочисленные цифровые данные о крупных млекопитающих послужат отправным пунктом для последующих исследований. Публикаций подробных палеонтологических описаний, явно недостаточно, темболее по Якутии. Не случайно авторам часто приходилось обращаться даже к работам Д.И.Черского, подробность и точность палеозоологических описаний которого превосходят иногда современные работы. Как известно, палеонтологическое описание - основа стратиграфических исследований. Без них не может быть создана надежная стратиграфическая схема отложений. Статьи сборника в какой-то мере заполняют пробел, имеющийся в отечественной литературе по этому вопросу.