The Manchester Museum is the first accessible guide to the collections and activities of the UK's largest university museum and one of the most significant museums in the country. There are approximately 4.5 million objects in the Museum and most are kept in storage, inaccessible to the public. The illustrated guide highlights the growth of each collection area and focuses on the detail of featured items. Initially consisting of the donations of the large collections of Victorian and Edwardian amateurs, they subsequently developed through a combination of continued donations and fieldwork research around the world by academics and curators.This publication traces the history of the Museum, from its beginnings as the collection of the Manchester Society for the Promotion of Natural History, through its transfer to John Owens College, to its current position as a major asset of the University of Manchester. The Manchester Museum frames the discussion of the collections with the Museum's award-winning work with schools and colleges, its wider work to engage its many communities and its use of digital communication to enhance the visitor's interaction with the collections.

This book provides a concise overview and descriptions of the 107 spider families that are presently recognized. It contains identification keys to the families and to the different kinds of spider webs, and shortcuts to remarkable types of spiders.

Forest Spiders of South East Asia offers the first comprehensive systematic account of all sac and ground spiders of South East Asia, which together constitute an estimated 12% of all spiders in the region. All ten subfamilies, 57 genera and numerous species of the region are defined, described, and illustrated. One new subfamily and a large number of new genera and species are described and named. Several hundreds additional, described and new, species are referred to. Distribution of all species covered in this volume is shown in 50 maps. More than a thousand line drawings and 16 colour photographs are used to illustrate the descriptions of the species, of which the great majority has never been illustrated before. The book provides a modern revision of all sac and ground spiders with clear illustrated diagnosis and descriptions of all known members of this group and many new species and genera. Identification of all 47 families occurring in the region is illustrated in beautiful and detailed drawings.

Spiders of the World explores the huge diversity of spider species and their fascinating traits, with profiles of 117 families accompanied by expert commentary and beautiful photographs.

This beautifully illustrated and updated guide to the spider families and genera north of Mexico is an indispensable reference for both amateur naturalists and professional arachnologists. It provides keys to over 600 genera in 71 different families.