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Ward, Lester Frank

(Encyclopedia)Ward, Lester Frank, 1841–1913, American sociologist and paleontologist, b. Joliet, Ill. Largely self-educated, he eventually took degrees in medicine and law. He worked as a government geologist and...

wireworm

(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 ground and feed ...

Wise, Henry Alexander

(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 Tyler Democrat in ...

teff

(Encyclopedia)teff, annual plant, Eragrostis tef, of the grass family (Poaceoe), whose seeds are a staple grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is a gluten-free cereal grain, high in iron, protein, calcium, vitamin C, ...

boat-billed heron

(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 its broad bill, ...

cuttlefish

(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 out for graspin...

puma

(Encyclopedia)puma ko͞oˈgər [key], New World member of the cat family, Puma concolor. Also known as mountain lion, catamount, panther, and painter, it ranges from S British Columbia to the southern tip of South ...

Morgan, Edmund Sears

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, Edmund Sears, 1916–2013, U.S. historian, b. Minneapolis. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1942, he taught at the Univ. of Chicago (1945–46) and at Brown (1946–55) before becomin...

McDougall, William, Canadian statesman

(Encyclopedia)McDougall, William, 1822–1905, Canadian leader in the movement for Canadian confederation, b. Ontario. He was elected (1858) to the Legislative Assembly, and in 1864 he entered the “great coalitio...

logwood

(Encyclopedia)logwood, small, thorny tree (Haematoxylon campechianum) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) native to tropical America and introduced into other tropical regions. The brown-red heartwood is the s...