Annapolis Vignettes

Annapolis, an outstanding colonial city, is the capital of Maryland, the home of the U.S. Naval Academy, and host to two of the largest boat shows in the country. It offers a veritable architectural feast to the masses of visitors, showing buildings representing every period--Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Gothic Revival, Victorian, and Modern. Visitors can marvel at stately dwellings like the Hammond-Harwood and Paca Houses with their meticulously manicured formal gardens, enjoy the simple shops, row houses, and taverns of the area. This pocket guide puts the city's outstanding buildings in historical perspective and adds colorful facts to enhance enjoyment of them. Spiced with anecdotes of many early Annapolis inhabitants and enlightened by recent research. The text includes helpful maps and the superb photographs by M. E. Warren. The Delmarva Peninsula is a transition zone between the northern and southern sections of the Atlantic Coast of North America. The north-south influences result in a high diversity of species of plants and animals, including amphibians and reptiles. Delmarva's amphibians and reptiles, are often overlooked by the vast majority of people living in the area who have never heard a northern spring peeper call or seen a salamander. Some common fallacies are the belief that snakes are slimy or that handling a toad can cause warts. This updated field guide to amphibians and reptiles of Delmarva will be useful to everyone interested in these fascinating creatures--from the curious child who brings home a salamander, to students, experienced naturalists, and professionals in need of life history, behavioral, and distributional information on Delmarva's amphibians (salamanders and frogs) and reptiles (turtles, lizards, and snakes). Seventy-three species are included in this second edition--seventy known to occur on Delmarva and three that the authors believe either occur there or once did. Outstanding color plates aid in identifying the species.