Amazon.com description: Product Description: Filled to the brim with information about and analysis of almost every great mythological, fantastical, and powerful creature ever written about, *Curious Creatures in Zoology* is a veritable treasure trove of information for the aspiring cryptozoologist. Featuring enigmas such as the Amazons, werewolves, gorgons, satyrs, Sphinx, manticores, centaurs, phoenixes, mermen, and krakens, author John Ashton also discusses animals known to exist, but which were perhaps more curious to readers in the 19th century. A sampling of the animals examined within includes apes, lions, horses, orcas, narwhals, walruses, zoophytes, sponges, bees, and salamanders. Part of the Loren Coleman Presents series for Cosimo Classics, Curious Creatures will fascinate and educate any amateur zoologist and readers of strange facts. JOHN ASHTON (1834-1911) was the author of 22 historical works. Beginning in 1874, Ashton spent most of his week researching a variety of topics in the British Museum's Reading Room, gathering information he would later turn into books. His list of works include diverse titles such as Chap-books of the Eighteenth Century (1882), Humour, Wit, & Satire of the Seventeenth Century (1884), Modern Street Ballads (1887),The Devil in Britain and America (1896), and Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign (1903), and his last two books were published under the pseudonym Charles Gordon.