(Encyclopedia) boat-billed heron or boatbill, a tropical New World heron, Chochlearius chochlearius. With shorter legs and a squatter appearance than most herons, this bird is remarkable chiefly for…
(Encyclopedia) wireworm, elongate, cylindrical larva of the click beetle. Most wireworms are hard and brown, but members of some species are soft and whitish. Wireworms live in rotten wood or in the…
(Encyclopedia) Wise, Henry Alexander, 1806–76, American political leader and Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Accomac, Va. A lawyer, he was successively a Jackson Democrat, a Whig, and a…
(Encyclopedia) Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin, 1831–1917, American journalist, author, and philanthropist, b. Hampton Falls, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1855. An active abolitionist, he was a friend and agent…
(Encyclopedia) Rietveld, Gerrit ThomasRietveld, Gerrit Thomasgĕrĭtˈ tōˈməs rētˈfĕlt [key], 1888–1965, Dutch architect and furniture designer. At first a cabinetmaker, Rietveld created (c.1917) a…
(Encyclopedia) cuttlefish, common name applied to cephalopod mollusks that have 10 tentacles, or arms, 8 of which have muscular suction cups on their inner surface and 2 that are longer and can shoot…
(Encyclopedia) pumapumapy&oomacr;ˈmə [key] or cougarcougark&oomacr;ˈgər [key], New World member of the cat family, Puma concolor. Also known as mountain lion, catamount, panther, and painter…
writer, director, actorBorn: 3/27/1963Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee Academy Award-winning writer, director and actor known for his violent, witty films. Tarantino, a high-school dropout,…
