The Ants by Holldobler, Bert and Edward O. Wilson - 1990

Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press at Harvard University, 1990. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Signed by Author. An apparent second printing of the First Edition, with "2" in the "number" line, a superior copy inside and out, with unbruised tips, tight binding, and clean internals, showing only very slight shelf- and edge-wear; not ex-library, with neither underlining nor highlighting anywhere. Bright and shiny dust jacket, paper-backed, illustrated, showing only very minor wear, protected by a plastic coat, dust jacket not being price-clipped. Oblong gold label to spine, indicating the signed state of the copy. At half-title is pasted-in signed card from Edward O. Wilson, signed and with a doodled ant. Gift-quality condition inside and out.This Pulitzer Prize-winning work distills several decades of work by both authors but especially by the senior author, who felt about ants as Alfred Kinsey did about wasps. Wilson was for many decades a proponent of sociobiology and expert in myrmecology, the scientific study of ants, perhaps the most complex and complicated and numerous animal on the planet. Ant anatomy, sociality, physiology, reproduction, ecology, and natural history. Nearly 1000 fine line drawings, double-column texts, fine full-color photographs, printed on high-gloss paper. Will surely remain for a long time, the definitive reference guide for researchers. Volume contains scholarly apparatus in the form of, e.g., notes, index, and bibliography. xii [1], 1-732 pp. Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.