[Signed] Contributions to the Natural History of the Isopoda Richardson [Searle], Harriet [Very Good] [Hardcover]

Description

First Edition. Hard cover, tall 8vo, bound in red cloth, with Smithsonian logo and title blocked in gilt to front board, title to the spine, and a torch vignette to center of rear board. Pages are untrimmed, 113pp. Signed and inscribed on the ffep. in old ink by Richardson to Dr. H. F. Moore (1867-1948). Moore was also a zoologist who specialized in Isopods, and discovered many new species. Another ownership signature appears below. The Note by the Author introduces the book as an independent version of work she presented for the twenty-seventh volume of the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, published also in 1904. Includes many drawn depictions of the different isopods discussed within the book, which are taken from the findings and descriptions provided by studies that Richardson cites. **CONDITION: Very Good, with some marks to front and back boards, some slight wear to tips and a bit at edge, and seen at top and bottom of spine. Hinges in order. Moderately age-toned pages, though text and images remain vivid. **CONTENTS: A collection of information about the life, biology, and taxonomy, of numerous species of Isopods. Isopods are a type of crustacean, commonly pill-shaped, and are also evolutionarily older than the dinosaurs. The book mentions a number of studies which either provide information on species of isopod already known, or present a new species of isopod along with their basic physiology. **AUTHOR: Washington D.C.-born biologist Harriet Richardson (1874-1958) specialized in the field of marine invertebrates, or crustaceans. She was one of the first women to do so, and known as ""the First Lady of Isopods"". She worked at the National Museum of Natural History, now part of the Smithsonian, and eventually was appointed Collaborator in the Division of Marine Invertebrates. In this field she earned her Ph.D. from Columbian University, (now George Washington Univ.) She worked unpaid for the Smithsonian for around twenty years, and in that time she was able to identify 70 new genera and nearly 300 new species of isopods and tanaids, a similar family of crustaceans. (CJ)