HUNT EMERSON REMEMBERS WW2013

KARL SHUKER: Was Sherlock Holmes's Scaly Nemesis the Speckled Band an Unknown Reptilian Species?

Karl Shuker investigates one of Sherlock Holmes's most deadly cryptozoological opponents - the Speckled Band.

Read on...

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From CFZ-USA:

• PUERTO RICO BIGFOOT — Another of the island's anomalous creatures...
• BUGS — A jackrabbit is a hare, not a rabbit...

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. 

So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

• Feeding birds shouldn’t be crime
• Rare bird spotted after 60 years
• For the birds (and the bats): 8 ways wind power co...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN FALLS OFF

The Gonzo Daily - Tuesday
www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html

How's this for inefficient bureaucracy? As regular readers of my inky-fingered scribblings (both here and elsewhere) will know, we have been having problems with our internet access, and these problems have been compounded with not just having to deal with what is euphemistically known as 'The Festive Season', but also with the fact that my ISP seems to operate via a call centre somewhere in Uttar Pradesh, manned by fellows who address me as "Mr Dow-nes" (rhyming with COW-PRESS) or "Mr Jonathan", and who seem to only have the vaguest idea where or what North Devon is. Earlier this week we managed to finally book a visit by an engineer, for this Thursday. Two days later the confirmation e-mail arrived, but they got the address wrong and had the visit scheduled for next door. So Graham rang them - a process that took most of the day as he kept on being informed that his call was important to them and was in a queue - but when he eventually got through to what seemed like a living human being, he was informed that they couldn't possibly change the address on the 'job order docket', but that they would have to cancel, and the engineer's visit would be rescheduled for the 16th. That is 10 more days, which beggars belief.

On more pleasant news, one of my Christmas presents from my lovely wife was a copy of Jaroslav Hašek's immortal book, The Good Soldier Švejk. I am reading it again for the first time in thirty years, and laughing uproariously. I don't think I have ever read a funnier book, and each evening I sit in my favourite armchair with Archie curled up on my lap and read another few chapters. Truly, despite my ISP, life is pretty good.

Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_7.html

Today's Track of the Day is by Detective
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-gonzo-track-of-day-detective.html

Clepsydra Tour Dates
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/updated-clepsydra-tour-dates.html

Belgian Sky Architect review
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/sky-architect-belgium-review-translated.html

Belgian review of Mick Farren/Andy Colquhoun
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/belgian-mick-farrenandy-colquhoun-review.html

The Daily Music Break: King Crimson
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-daily-music-break-king-crimson.html


* The Gonzo Daily is a two-way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work or even just say hello, please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow....

* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* We should probably mention here that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others), is an old hippy of 54 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon, which he shares with various fish and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus... did we mention the orange cat?

JOURNAL: Journal of Herpetology 47(4)

Journal of Herpetology 47(4)

Re-posted Courtesy of  Breck Bartholomew of Zen Scientist Blog 

• Contents:
• Albino, Adriana M., Claudia I. Montalvo and Santiago Brizuela. 2013. New records of squamates from the Upper Miocene of South America. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 590-598. [ aalbino@mdp.edu.ar]
• Costa, Thais R. N. and Luis Felepe Toledo. 2013. Physalaemus spiniger (Anura: Leiuperinae): A frog with an extansive vocal repertoire. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 530-538. [ toledolf2@yahoo.com]
• Crawford, John A. and William E. Peterman. 2013. Biomass and habitat partitioning of Desmognathus on wet rock faces in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 580-584. [ jcrawford@lindenwood.edu]
• Dinets, Vladimir. 2013. Underwater sound locating capability in the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 521-523. [ dinets@gmail.com]
• Ferguson, Gary W., Adam J. Kingeter and William H. Gehrmann. 2013. Ultraviolet light exposure and response to dietary vitamin D3 in two Jamaican anoles. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 524-529. [ G.Ferguson@tcu.edu]
• Kolenc, Francisco, Claudio Borteiro, Leonardo Cotichelli, Diego Baldo, Claudio Martinez Debat and Florencia Vera Candioti. 2013. The tadpole and karyotype of Rhinella achavali (Anura: Bufonidae). Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 599-606. [ fkolenc@gmail.com]
• Liang, Christina T. 2013. Movements and habitat use of Yosemite Toads (Anaxyrus (formerly Bufo) canorus) in the Sierra National Forest, California. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 555-564. [ christinaliang@fs.fed.us]
• Lourenço de Moraes, Ricardo, Amanda S. F. Lantyer Silva, Luis F. Toledo and Mirco Sole. 2013. Tadpole, oophagy, advertisement call, and geographic distribution of Ararasphenodon arapapa Pimenta, Napoli and Haddad 2009 (Anura, Hylidae). Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 575-579. [ toledolf2@yahoo.com]
• Melzer, Sabine, Stefan Clerens and Phillip J. Bishop. 2013. Skin gland morphology and secretory peptides in naturalized Litoria species in New Zealand. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 565-574. [ sabine.melzer@gmail.com]
• Milanovich, Joseph R. and John C. Maerz. 2013. Realistic fasting does not affect stable isotope levels of a metabolically efficient salamander. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 544-548. Plethodon cinereus [ milanovich.joe@epa.gov]
• Oliveira, Francisco Fonesca Ribeiro de, Luciana Barreto Nascimento, Paula Cabral Eterovick and Ivan Sazima. 2013. Description of the tadpole and redescription of the advertisement call of Physalaemus evangelistai (Anura, Leiuperidae), with notes on its natural history. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 539-543. [ herpetooliveira@yahoo.com.br]
• Orrico, Victor G. D., William E. Duellman, Moises B. Souza and Celio F. B. Haddad. 2013. The taxonomic status of Dendrosophus allenorum and Dendrosophus timbeba (Anura: Hylidae). Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 615-618. [ victordill@gmail.com]
• Röhr, David L. and Flora A. Junca. 2013. Micro-habitat influence on the advertisement call structure and sound propagation efficiency of Hypsiboas crepitans (Anura: Hylidae). Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 549-554. [ florajunc@gmail.com]
• Roulin, Alexandre, Alia Mafli and Kazumasa Wakamatsu. 2013. Errata for: Reptiles produce pheomelanin: evidence in the Eastern Hermann's Tortoise (Eurotestudo boettgeri). Journal of Herpetology 47(2):258-261. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 619.
• Sullivan, Aaron M. and Gregory Jensen. 2013. A study of the sensitivity of Plethodon cinereus (Caudata: Plethodontidae) to damage-released cues from conspecifics. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 585-589. [ aaron.sullivan@houghton.edu]
• Vassilieva, Anna B., Eduard A. Galoyan and Nikolay A. Poyarkov, Jr. 2013. Rhacophorus vampyrus (Anura: Rhgacophoridae) reproductive biology: A new type of oophagus tadpole in Asian treefrogs. Journal of Herpetology. 47 (4): 607-614. [ vassil.anna@gmail.com]

Join the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and receive the Journal of Herpetology and Herpetological Review. - Join at ZenScientist.com

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

Yesterday’s News Today
http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1896 Arnold Ridley was born. Ridley found fame as the writer of the classic play The Ghost Train (“If it be a natural thing, where'd it come from and where'd it go?”) and later in life playing the part of Private Charles Godfrey in Dad's Army.

And now the news:

Bigfoot hunter claims to have killed mythical crea...

Japanese whaling fleet filmed with dead minke whal...

Tenn. man to plead guilty to smuggling narwhal wha...

Australians protest at plans to kill sharks in Per...

The ‘first’ giant panda and how it ended up in Par...

Two heads are better than one: Two-headed calf bor...

Kenyan rhinos cannot survive in the wild, says cha...

Stranded whales on Farewell Spit unable to be save...

The Ghost Train in full (best appreciated if you realise Arthur Askey's character is MEANT to be that annoying):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0u0jkYWHw