Savitzky, Alan H.

English

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Snakes of the United States and Canada: Natural History and Care in Captivity. By John VRossi and Roxanne Rossi.Snakes of the United States and Canada: Natural History and Care in Captivity by John V Rossi; Roxanne  RossiReview by: Reviewed by Alan H SavitzkyThe Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 79, No. 4 (December 2004), p. 437Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/428212 .Accessed: 04/04/2014 16:21Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. .The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheQuarterly Review of Biology.http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.123.127.4 on Fri, 4 Apr 2014 16:21:13 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsDecember 2004 437NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKSand provides information on body sizes reportedfor Florida specimens. Another section gives theorigin of the species, when and how populationsbecame introduced (if known), and where in thestate the species is known to occur. Natural historyfeatures (including habitat preferences, reproduc-tion, diet, and predators) are discussed. Eachaccount is accompanied by a color photograph andmap of the state indicating counties from whichthe species has been documented. A missing com-ponent of the accounts is a discussion of the impacteach exotic species may be having on native speciesand natural ecosystems.Meshaka’s thoughtful afterword on exotic spe-cies introductions to Florida offers some achieva-ble solutions for controlling the influx of more her-petofauna.J Whitfield Gibbons, Savannah River EcologyLaboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Caro-linaSnakes of the United States and Canada: Nat-ural History and Care in Captivity.By John V Rossi and Roxanne Rossi. Malabar (Flor-ida): Krieger Publishing. $145.00. xxxvi  520 p;ill.; subject index. ISBN: 1–57524–031–9. 2003.This book is a curious hybrid, part manual for thehusbandry of captive snakes and part compendiumof the ophidian fauna of the United States andCanada. Written by a veterinarian with a long-standing interest in herpetology and his wife andherpetocultural collaborator, the book succeeds inthe first part but falls short in the second.The useful section on general husbandry (about15% of the book) is followed by species accountsorganized into separate sections for nonvenomousand venomous taxa, respectively. Within each ofthe latter sections, the accounts are simply alpha-betized by scientific name, regardless of taxonomicfamily, which results in a confusing mix of accountsfor up to four families within a single section.Furthermore, amateurs unfamiliar with scientificnames must consult an appendix of commonnames to assist in navigating the text. Inexplicably,a table listing the cage requirements of each spe-cies (pp 4–5) lists taxa only by their commonnames. Although the authors provided some of thephotographs, the best are those credited to DavidG Campbell, whose depictions of many species areas good as any available in print. The few line draw-ings are of astonishingly poor quality.Although the species accounts include manycitations, the literature certainly is not exhaustivelyreviewed, and in some cases important studies gounmentioned (such as recent papers rearrangingNorth American populations of Elaphe). Outrighterrors are generally minor, but among them is aphotograph of Storeria occipitomaculata misidenti-fied as S. dekayi (p 331). The species accounts con-tain numerous suggestions regarding the keepingof native species, often drawn from the experienceof the authors and their colleagues, but much ofthat information lacks sufficient documentation.Two issues likely to disturb professionals are thediscussions of releasing captive snakes in the wildand of keeping venomous snakes in captivity. Bothdiscussions include extensive caveats concerningtheir respective hazards, but the book ultimatelylends tacit approval by providing details for theirexecution.This costly volume largely fulfills its goal of serv-ing as a guide for amateurs interested in keepingnative snakes, but it will be of limited interest toprofessional biologists.Alan H Savitzky, Biological Sciences, Old Domin-ion University, Norfolk, VirginiaReproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Uro-dela. Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny, Volume 1.Edited by David M Sever. Enfield (New Hampshire):Science Publishers. $126.00. vii 627 p; ill.; index.ISBN: 1–57808–285–4. 2003.The first book in this series on reproduction andphylogeny sets the standard for upcoming volumeswith an impressive breadth of topics, despite whatmight seem a rather narrow taxonomic focus. Theworld boasts approximately 500 species of urode-les, and one might ask, how much is there really toknow about reproduction and phylogeny in thisgroup? The answer is a tremendous amount! Theauthors provide in-depth coverage of diversity insalamander reproductive biology, some summariz-ing previously published data and others present-ing novel findings. Many chapters are sufficientlysynthetic to provide a framework for scholars con-templating future research on this topic. The 14chapters can be separated into three categories:classification and phylogeny (Chapters 1 through3), morphology and physiology (Chapters 4through 9, and 11), and behavior and life history(Chapters 10 and 12 through 14).Many chapters in each category are noteworthybecause of their synthetic nature. Chapter 2 (Lar-son et al.) is a thorough discussion of salamandersystematics, with reviews of earlier works andmore recent efforts within all lineages. This chap-ter can be overwhelming for those not conversantin phylogenetic methods, but will serve as a valu-able reference for anyone interested in salaman-der evolutionary relationships. The chapters onspermatozoan structure (Chapter 7, by Scheltingaand Jamieson) and courtship and mating glandsThis content downloaded from 129.123.127.4 on Fri, 4 Apr 2014 16:21:13 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Snakes of the United States and Canada: Natural History and Care in Captivity

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Snakes of the United States and Canada: Natural History and Care in Captivity

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