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Title: Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds by Steven L. Stephenson, Henry Stempen ISBN: 0-88192-439-3 Publisher: Timber Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: As Strange as Any Life from Mars Could be!
Comment: The slime molds are generally little noticed, but very strange life forms that could easily fit in a science fiction book. The swarm cells and myxamoebae unite to form first an amoeboid zygote, then the strange, crawling, plasmodium stage, and finally the fungus-like fruiting body. The plasmodia can be (in the case of Fuligo) large yellow pulsating crawling blobs that suddenly appear on people's lawns. Others are less noticeable, but often brightly colored. I have seen one of these plasmodia in my life- a bright pink blob that disappeared into the ground when I raised a rotting log in the Pinaleno Mountains of Arizona. I was certainly startled!
Stephenson and Stempen have written an excellent book on these strange critters in "Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds." It fills a gap in the literature on natural history. It is my hope that more people will be able to appreciate these neat organisms through the descriptions, excellent line drawings and well-rendered color plates.
I will disagree with one reviewer's dislike of the describer's name after the scientific name, however. It is there for the convenience of other taxonomist as least as much as the vanity of the describer. If I know that Physarum nutans was described by Persoon it tells me something about where I should look for the original description and may also give me some idea of when the name probably originated. Also Physarum cinereum (Batsch) Persoon tells me that Batsch wrote the original description, but placed the species in a different genus, which was than changed to the present genus by Persoon. Thus such "vain" additions are often important to other workers in the field.
I do agree with the same reviewer that some further discussion of how slime molds are classified might have helped an otherwise excellent book. However, I am also fully aware that the classification is still in flux and no final answers may yet be possible until DNA studies are done (and maybe not even then!).
Read this book if you find the weirdness of the world fascinating! Better still, use it to find and identify slime molds. Good hunting.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent - with 3 caveats
Comment: Overall I cannot find enough praise for the book. Clearly written, lavishly illustrated with exquisite line-drawings, and even the luxury of coloured plates! My three criticisms below can only be seen in the context of lavish praise which this volume richly deserves.
However...........
1. Chaper 6. Classification. Pages 70-71.
The classification diagram is fine. But it would have been very helpful to mention the class, division and kingdom in which myxomcetes belong. Thus enabling the reader to appreciate the place of Myxomycetes in the tree of all earthly life.
2. Chapter 6. Identification. Pages 72ff.
The novice's efforts to itentify a slime mould would be greatly assisted by taking one step back, before presenting the excellent dichotomous trees. We need an acid test to decide whether what is before our eyes is indeed a slime mould, and not e.g. a lichen, fungus, moss..... It is pointless to apply the dichotomous (how I love that word!) tests to something which is not in fact a slime mould at all!
2. Chapter 6. Descriptions (names). Pages 87ff.
As a matter of passionately held principle I object to the odious practice of adding discoveres' names to the scientific names of species. As the authors will be aware, there are strongs movement to put an end to this appalling habit which -
a. Detracts from the scientific objectivity of the naming scheme, by obtrusive name-dropping. Imagine the ridicule resulting from the spread of this practice to other sciences, where we might well stumble upon the ...
electron (Thompson) Milligan, neutron Chadwick neutrino (Yukawa) Dirac
b. Leads to such ugly and unfelicitous expressions as....
Trichia varia (Persoon) Persoon
.....surely a case of the tail wagging the dog!
c. Adds nothing to the intrinsic nature of the species. Presumably Physarella oblongata would still have existed, exactly as it now is, even if it had never been identified by (Berkley & Curtis) Morgan! Or indeed before any human beings evolved!
To avoid continual irritation I have typ-exed out all mention of discoverers' names in my copy of this otherwise splendid book!
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Title: Slime Molds and Fungi (Nature Close-Up) by Elaine Pascoe, Dwight Kuhn ISBN: 1567111823 Publisher: Blackbirch Marketing Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $27.45 |
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Title: The Fifth Kingdom by Bryce Kendrick, Bryce Kenderick ISBN: 1585100226 Publisher: Focus Publishing / R. Pullins & Co Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Lichens (Natural World Series) by William Purvis ISBN: 1560988797 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus I: Macroscopic Features by David L. Largent, Daniel E. Stuntz ISBN: 0916422003 Publisher: Mad River Pr List Price(USD): $14.75 |
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Title: How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus II: Field Identification of Genera by David Largant, H. D. Thiers, David L. Largent ISBN: 0916422089 Publisher: Mad River Pr Pub. Date: December, 1977 List Price(USD): $6.75 |
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