Many thanks go to Julie Cooper and David Sobel, who both made this project possible and enjoyable, and were supportive every step of the way. Susan Schwartz also helped significantly. Concerning nomenclatural anomalies as well as natural history notes, David Künstler was helpful throughout. John and Carin Winer greatly enhanced the value of my trip to the West Coast. And it was through Marion Winer that I met Claire Kire, who put me in touch with Jerome Lo, whose talent and demeanor made our collaboration pleasurable. Jen Kuo was a great help in that effort.
The particulars concerning getting bitten by poisonous spiders, and the relevant treatments, as well as other medical and biological insights were provided by Dr. John Scherr, a physician in Atlanta, Georgia. Rabbi Carol Glass elucidated early Hebrew and Aramaic writings with regard to the domestic cat, and Robert Musco and Pam Glassock’s bedbug anecdotes helped enormously.
Gregory Pregill, the Curator of Herpetology at the San Diego Natural History Museum, shared his field observations about the African clawed frog and southern California lizards. Another colleague, Julian C. Lee, who is a professor at the University of Miami, in Miami, Florida, explained some of the subtler innuendos concerning southern Florida’s introduced herpetofauna.
Information about marine turtles was graciously provided by Sam Sadove and Judy Raab of Okeanos Ocean Research Foundation. Matthew Lerman, the author of Marine Biology, supplied data about sea turtles that had washed up along the western end of Long Island, and Michael Klemens clarified a systematic question. Felippe De Jesus and Santa Alequin translated Spanish conversations and tracked down beekeepers.
Steve Brill was a constant source of wildmania, and Evelyn Dean provided much of his food for thought. I also greatly appreciated the advice of Dr. Edith Robbins and Dr. Lawrence Crockett, both of the City University of New York. Herbert Setlow, Carolyn Setlow, and Marcie Setlow were helpful as well.
Talking with Larry vanDruff of the New York State College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University about his research with squirrels was extremely beneficial. And thanks also go to Charles Matson, who took the time to explain many of the nuances about dragonflies. A conversation about cicadas with Kathy Williams of the University of Arkansas was pertinent, and Ona Ryan of the City Health Commissioner’s office in Danville, Illinois, answered questions about the crows in her city. James Quinn and Ted Stiles of Rutgers University offered their keen insights.
C. Lavett Smith, Sarfraz Lodhi, and Charles Griswold of the American Museum of Natural History helped verify and clarify nomenclatural difficulties. Marya Dalrymple was able to provide a photograph with a date showing an American kestrel eating a house sparrow on a Manhattan rooftop. Regarding Shakespeare, Chuck Boyce provided chapter and verse.
Richard Pouyat, Deputy Director of Technical Information for the Natural Resources Group of New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, verified and corroborated material throughout the book. Ed Gill, John Feeley, Namshin Yoon, Josephine Scalia, Carol Davidson, Tom Pillar, Ralph Acompore, Julie Dorniak, Craig McKee, and Fred Lulka were all helpful in the field, as were Ethan Carr, Glen Nissan, Anne Farkas, and Susan Gottlieb. And Gordon Helman always did things few could ever think of.
Bob Cook, Clive Pinnock, Mary Hake, Don Riepe, John Tanacredi, and Bruce Lane, who are all with the National Park Service, provided data and background information. Hilary Lambert Renwick, previously with Rutgers University, the Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies, and the National Park Service, and now with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, was exceptionally helpful.
I’d like to thank Bill Griner, who has few rivals botanically, and the Street Tree Consortium’s Marianne Holden, who sent me a useful book. My thanks also go to Adam Brill, Casey French Alexander, and Wendy Grossman, as well as to Jennie Tichenor of the Radioactive Waste Campaign and Terry Keller of the Green Guerillas, along with Mary Leou and Peter Hearn of the Inwood Parks Alliance.
Comments concerning the care of street trees and related information from Geraldine Weinstein and Gregory Portley were appreciated. Donald Bruning, the Curator of Ornithology at the New York Zoological Society, offered his advice concerning urban crows. And John Behler, the Curator of Herpetology at the New York Zoological Society, explained a positive role that certain urban species provide. Jackie Brown and Dorothy Lewandowsky were both helpful, too.
Robert Timm, the Curator of Mammalogy at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, provided valuable comments on Old and New World rats and mice. And special thanks go to Lisa Joy Taranto for her synesthetics and syntactics.
Henry Stern, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Matthew Sanderson, Michael Feller, Sue Sisinni, Pamela Robbins, Therese Braddick, as well as Gary Zarr, Adrian Benepe, Fran Chan, Marianne O’Hea, and Elizabeth Crane were all good parkies. When it came to forestry, horticulture, and landscape architecture, Frank Serpe, Tony Emmerich, Harry Muller, and Vicki Moeser, the librarian at the Horticultural Society of New York, all had comments that added to the substance of this book.
Ruth Greif and Andrew Hoffer, of John Wiley & Sons, and Claire McKean and Joanne Davidson of G&H SOHO managed much of the production of this book, while Dawn Reitz helped with some of the logistical aspects.
Joanna Burger of Rutgers University was supportive throughout the entire project. Conversations with Lawrence Garber were always a source of new ideas, and Marcy Garber showed me the parks in Philadelphia, for which I am much obliged.