A great temple to the god Amon was built at Karnak in Upper Egypt around c. 1785. It is from Amon that we get his cephalopod namesake. Pliny the Elder, who lived around 79 AD near Pompeii, called these fossils ammonis cornua or "horns of Ammon" because they reminded him of the Egyptian god of sun and air, Ammon (Amun). Amun was often depicted wearing ram's horns.We have these coiled cephalopods to thank for the naming of the compound ammonia, NH3, the simplest pnictogen hydride, a colorless gas with a distinctive pungent smell. Ammonites were a group of hugely successful aquatic molluscs that looked like the still extant Nautilus, a coiled shellfish that lives off the southern coast of Asia.

This Jurassic ammonite is from an all but inaccessible site in Sayward, Bonanza Group, Vancouver Island. By the time these ammonites were being buried in sediment, Wrangellia, the predominately volcanic terrane that now forms Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, had made its way to the northern mid-latitudes. Within the basal part of the sequence, sedimentary beds are found interbedded with lapilli and crystal-tuffs.

Dragonflies, from the order Odonata, have been around for over 250 million years. The most conspicuous difference in their evolution over time is the steady shrinking of their wingspan from well over two and a half feet down to a few inches. Voracious predators, today they dine on bees, wasps, butterflies and avoid the attentions of birds and wee lizards --  but back in the day, they had a much larger selection of meals within their grasp. Small lizards and birds who today choose dragonflies as a tasty snack used to be their preferred prey.

 

The FDA puts a lot of stock into studies done on mice and many a warning label has been the outcome. Seems most of the really bad side effects hit pregnant rats the hardest. So, you can feel pretty safe as long as you are not pregnant or an upset rodent

Myomancy was a method of divination by mice. Their behaviour was observed and taken as a omen of what was to come. If their movements were calm, agitated or aggressive, much was read into it. 

Photo: Michele Pokrandt

Orchidaceae get their name from the Greek ὄρχις (órkhis), which literally means "testicle", a nod to the naughty nub shape of their roots.

In Greek mythology, Orchis was the son of an ugly nymph and a satyr who came upon a festival for Dionysios deep in the woods.