Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sturges, Preston stûrˈjĭs [key], 1898–1959, American film director, screenwriter, and producer, b. Chicago as Edmond Preston Biden. Educated in the United States and Europe, he turned to playwrit...

(Encyclopedia) bee fly, name for the small- to medium-sized flies of the family Bombyliidae, many of which resemble bees in appearance and behavior. This mimicry provides bee flies with some measure of protection ag...

(Encyclopedia) Overijssel ōˌvərīˈsəl [key], province (1994 pop. 1,044,600), c,1,500 sq mi (3,885 sq km), E central Netherlands; it borders on Germany in the east. Zwolle is the capital; other cities include Al...

(Encyclopedia) Delmarva dĕlmärˈvə [key], peninsula, c.180 mi (290 km) long, separating Chesapeake Bay on the west from Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east; named for the three states (Delaware, Maryl...

(Encyclopedia) Jutland jŭtˈlənd [key], Dan. Jylland, Ger. Jütland, peninsula, c.250 mi (400 km) long and up to 110 mi (177 km) wide, N Europe, comprising continental Denmark and N Schleswig-Holstein state, Germa...

(Encyclopedia) betta bĕtˈə [key] or fighting fish, small, freshwater fish of the genus Betta, found in Thailand and the Malay Peninsula. Best known is the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Mature males of t...

(Encyclopedia) Gobi gōˈbē [key], Mandarin Yintai shamo, great stony desert of N central Asia, c.500,000 sq mi (1,295,000 sq km), extending c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) from east to west across SE Mongolia and N China fr...

(Encyclopedia) Veracruz, city (1990 pop. 303,152), Veracruz state, E central Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Rivaling Tampico as the country's main port, it is also the commercial and industrial center of an importan...

(Encyclopedia) Tamaulipas tämoulēˈpäs [key], state (1990 pop. 2,249,581), 30,734 sq mi (79,601 sq km), NE Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Ciudad Victoria is the capital. The central and western parts of the state...

(Encyclopedia) giraffe, African ruminant mammal, genus Giraffa, living in open savanna S of the Sahara. Giraffes have historically been considered to be one species, G. camelopardalis, with a number of subspecies, b...