leaf-nosed snake, any of four species of small burrowing snakes of the family Colubridae that have the nose shield enlarged and flattened, with free edges. Several subspecies of each also exist. The two members of the genus Phyllorhynchus are found in creosote-bush deserts of the southwestern

leaf-rolling grasshopper, any of a group of insects in the subfamily Gryllacridinae (order Orthoptera) that are wingless or nearly wingless, have long cerci and antennae, and appear somewhat humpbacked. The leaf-rolling grasshoppers are closely related to raspy crickets, which are also in subfamily

leaf-rolling weevil, (family Attelabidae), any member of a subgroup of the weevil family, Curculionidae (insect order Coleoptera) whose females protect newly laid eggs by rolling them up inside a growing leaf. After hatching, the larvae eat the leaf from within. Adults are generally small (3–6 mm

Edith Rebecca Saunders: …to her development of the leaf-skin theory, according to which the base of each leaf on a stem extends down to form a mosaic covering, or skin, along the stem axis, as well as to her theory of carpel polymorphism, which attempted to explain the variations she observed in plant…

leafbird, (genus Chloropsis), any of about 10 species of short-legged, grass-green birds (family Irenidae, order Passeriformes) from Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Some authorities place the leafbird in the bulbul family (Pycnonotidae). Leafbirds are about 17 to 20 cm (6.5 to 8 inches) long.

leafcutter ant, any of nearly 50 species of ants abundant in the American tropics, easily recognized by their foraging columns composed of hundreds or thousands of ants carrying small pieces of leaves. These moving trails of cut foliage often stretch over 30 meters (100 feet) across the forest

Lepidoptera: Annotated classification: Family Incurvariidae (fairy, or leafcutter, moths) Approximately 100 species worldwide; many are small brilliantly colored diurnal flower visitors; male antennae often several times as long as forewings; mutualistic relationships of the yucca moths (Prodoxinae) with their food plants are notable as an example of coevolution; family sometimes…

leafhopper, any of the small, slender, often beautifully coloured and marked sap-sucking insects of the large family Cicadellidae (Jassidae) of the order Homoptera. They are found on almost all types of plants; however, individual species are host-specific. Although a single leafhopper does no

pamphlet, brief booklet; in the UNESCO definition, it is an unbound publication that is not a periodical and contains no fewer than 5 and no more than 48 pages, exclusive of any cover. After the invention of printing, short unbound or loosely bound booklets were called pamphlets. Since polemical

angiosperm: Leaves: …two or more subunits called leaflets: in palmately compound leaves, the leaflets radiate from a single point at the distal end of the petiole; in pinnately compound leaves, a row of leaflets forms on either side of an extension of the petiole called the rachis. Some pinnately compound leaves branch…

Adrienne Rich: Shift to feminist and political themes: Leaflets: Poems 1965–1968 (1969) includes a number of translations of poetry from other languages as well as a series of poems echoing the Middle Eastern ghazal genre. Such collections as Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972 (1973; National Book Award) and The Dream of a…

Pereskia: Leafy cactus (P. aculeata), also known as Barbados gooseberry, is cultivated extensively for hedges and for its orange edible fruit. Both P. bleo and P. grandifolia have been used in traditional medicine and show some anticancer potential, though additional studies are needed.

leafy liverwort, (order Jungermanniales), order of numerous species of liverworts (division Marchantiophyta), in which the plant body is prostrate and extends horizontally in leaflike form with an upper and lower surface. The greatest number and variety of leafy liverworts are found in tropical

sea dragon: …or Glauert’s, sea dragon (Phycodurus eques) is found from Western Australia to western Victoria, whereas the ruby sea dragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) occurs in waters near Perth, Western Australia, and in the Recherche Archipelago along Western Australia’s southern coast. Weedy and leafy sea dragons generally live at depths of between…

spurge: Major species: …and eastern United States; the leafy spurge (E. escula), naturalized from Europe in the northern United States and adjacent Canada; spotted spurge (E. maculata); prostrate spurge and the related European petty spurge (E. peplus); and sun spurge (E. helioscopia). The weedy North American prostrate spurge (E. supine) is commonly found…

lichen: Foliose lichens are large and leafy, reaching diameters of several feet in some species, and are usually attached to the substrate by their large platelike thalli at the centre. These lichens have a distinct top and bottom side and can be leafy, flat, or bumpy…

league, any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km). In English-speaking countries the land league is generally accepted as 3 statute miles (4.83 km), although varying lengths from 7,500 feet to 15,000 feet (2.29 to 4.57 km) were sometimes

War of the Grand Alliance, (1689–97), the third major war of Louis XIV of France, in which his expansionist plans were blocked by an alliance led by England, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the Austrian Habsburgs. The deeper issue underlying the war was the balance of power between the

fascism: Serbia: Slobodan Milošević, leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalisticka Partija Srbije; SPS), the campaigns in Croatia and Bosnia were undertaken in part to bolster Milošević’s image as a staunch nationalist and to consolidate his power at the expense of Vojislav Seselj’s Serbian Radical Party (Srpska Radikalna Stranka; SRS), then…

America’s Best Comics: …with the unlikely runaway hit The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (with artist Kevin O’Neill), in which a gamut of literary characters—from Dracula’s Mina Harker to the Invisible Man—inhabit an alternate Victorian age. The book sparked interest in the steampunk genre (a variation of cyberpunk that looked to the past instead…

Sean Connery: …(2003) of the comic-book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, though he went on to perform various voice roles.

The League of Gentlemen, British crime film, released in 1960, that defined the genre in its day, despite its grounding in humour. It was based on the novel of the same name by John Boland. Jack Hawkins played a disgruntled ex-army colonel who recruits a group of disheartened, money-hungry former

Jet Li: …in Feng shen bang (2016; League of Gods), which was set during the Shang dynasty. He played the Emperor in Disney’s 2020 live-action remake of its 1998 animated feature Mulan, about a young Chinese woman who disguises herself as a man to become a warrior.

Fridtjof Nansen: Statesman and humanitarian: …displaced persons known as the “Nansen passport.” In 1931 the Nansen International Office for Refugees was created in Geneva (after Nansen’s death); it cared mainly for anticommunist (“White”) Russians, for Armenians from Turkey, and, later, for Jews from Nazi Germany.

Dorothy Kamenshek: …her teammates inspired the film A League of Their Own (1992).

Dreikaiserbund, an alliance in the latter part of the 19th century of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, devised by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. It aimed at neutralizing the rivalry between Germany’s two neighbours by an agreement over their respective spheres of influence in the Balkans

League of Women Voters, nonpartisan American political organization that has pursued its mission of promoting active and unhampered participation in government since its establishment in 1920. First proposed by Carrie Chapman Catt at a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association

Umberto Bossi: …the leader (1991–2012) of the Northern League (Lega Nord) party.

Leah, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), primarily in Genesis, first wife of Jacob (later Israel) and the traditional ancestor of 5 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Leah was the mother of six of Jacob’s sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, and Judah; Judah was the ancestor of King David and,

Diamond Head, cape and celebrated landmark, Honolulu county, southeastern Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies at the southern edge of Waikiki. An extinct volcanic crater and tuff cone, Diamond Head was the site of a luakini heiau, an ancient ceremonial structure dedicated to a war god and used by the

Diamond Head: Leahi Point, located on the western slope, is its highest spot, rising to 760 feet (230 meters). A trail to the summit for military observation was constructed in 1910; it is now a popular tourist destination because of its panoramic views of Honolulu and the…

Omaha: The contemporary city: The Leahy Mall and the fountain were part of a massive modernization project of the downtown and the riverfront that began in the 1970s. Changes in the riverfront landscape since 2002 include the addition of the Qwest Center, a convention hall and arena; a river walk;…

Frank Leahy was an American college football coach whose teams at the University of Notre Dame won 87 games, lost 11, and tied 9. His career winning percentage of .864 (107–13–9) ranks second in the history of first-division college football to that of Knute Rockne, a predecessor at Notre Dame.

Frank Leahy was an American college football coach whose teams at the University of Notre Dame won 87 games, lost 11, and tied 9. His career winning percentage of .864 (107–13–9) ranks second in the history of first-division college football to that of Knute Rockne, a predecessor at Notre Dame.

Patrick Leahy is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and represented Vermont from 1975 to 2023. He served as president pro tempore of the Senate (2012–15; 2021–23). Leahy, who was born blind in one eye, graduated from Saint Michael’s College in 1961. The

Patrick Leahy is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and represented Vermont from 1975 to 2023. He served as president pro tempore of the Senate (2012–15; 2021–23). Leahy, who was born blind in one eye, graduated from Saint Michael’s College in 1961. The

William Daniel Leahy was an American naval officer who served as personal chief of staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. Leahy graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1897 and was assigned as midshipman to the battleship Oregon. He was

Patrick Leahy: Lamar Smith, he cowrote the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (2011), which was called the most significant reform of U.S. patent law in the modern era; it established priority for inventions by filing date rather than by first demonstration. In addition, Leahy propounded legislation that protected data and intellectual property. As…

mass spectrometry: Leak detection: A widely used commercial device designed to locate leaks in vacuum systems consists of a small mass spectrometer with an electron-bombardment ion source that is connected to the troubled system. The mass spectrometer is set to detect helium, and the gas is played…

amphibole: General considerations: …according to the British mineralogist Bernard E. Leake. Because of the wide range of chemical substitutions permissible in the crystal structure, amphiboles can crystallize in igneous and metamorphic rocks with a wide range of bulk chemistries. Typically amphiboles form as long prismatic crystals, radiating sprays, and asbestiform (fibrous) aggregates; however,…

Thomas of Lancaster: …grouping that by the compromise Treaty of Leake (1318) effected a formal reconciliation between him and the king. The rise of Hugh Le Despenser the Elder and Hugh Le Despenser the Younger as royal favourites by 1318 renewed Lancaster’s quarrel with Edward, who, after their banishment in 1321, took up…

William Martin Leake was a British army officer, topographer, and antiquary whose surveys of ancient Greek sites were valuable for their accurate observation and helped lay the foundation for subsequent, more detailed description and excavation. Sent to assist the Turks against possible French

Leakey family, family of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists known for their discoveries of hominin and other fossil remains in eastern Africa. Louis Leakey (b. 1903—d. 1972), born of British missionary parents, grew up in Kenya, was educated at the University of Cambridge, and eventually

Louis Leakey was a Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist, a member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, whose fossil discoveries in East Africa proved that human beings were far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centred in Africa,

Louis Leakey was a Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist, a member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, whose fossil discoveries in East Africa proved that human beings were far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centred in Africa,

Louis Leakey was a Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist, a member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, whose fossil discoveries in East Africa proved that human beings were far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centred in Africa,

Mary Douglas Leakey was an English-born archaeologist and paleoanthropologist, a member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, who made several fossil finds of great importance in the understanding of human evolution. Her early finds were interpreted and publicized by her

Meave G. Leakey is a British paleoanthropologist who was part of a family that gained renown for decades of pioneering hominin research in eastern Africa. As a college student, Epps planned to be a marine zoologist, and she earned a B.S. in zoology and marine zoology from the University of North

Richard Leakey was a Kenyan anthropologist, conservationist, and political figure. A member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, he was responsible for extensive fossil finds related to human evolution and who campaigned publicly for responsible management of the

Richard Leakey was a Kenyan anthropologist, conservationist, and political figure. A member of the distinguished Leakey family of scholars and researchers, he was responsible for extensive fossil finds related to human evolution and who campaigned publicly for responsible management of the

heredity: Mechanisms of mutation: Less-severe mutations are called “leaky” mutations because some normal function still “leaks through” into the phenotype.

transform fault: …fracture zone is labeled a leaky transform fault. South of New Zealand, between it and the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, a component of shortening is occurring across a transform called the Macquarie Ridge. There subduction may be taking place at a slow rate.

Portuguese literature: Poetry: Akin to him was António Duarte Gomes Leal, author of Claridades do sul (1875; “Clarities of the South”) and O Anti-Cristo (1884; “The Anti-Christ”), who could likewise achieve quiet sincerity when dealing with humble themes.

Rayssa Leal is a professional skateboarder who won the silver medal in street skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), becoming at age 13 one of the youngest medalists in the history of the Games and the youngest Olympic medalist from Brazil.

Juan de Nisa Valdés Leal was a painter, president of the Sevilla (Seville) Academy, and the major figure in Sevillian painting for many years, known for his dramatic, inventive, and often violent paintings. His father was Portuguese, and Valdés Leal was educated in Córdoba under the guidance of

Rayssa Leal is a professional skateboarder who won the silver medal in street skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), becoming at age 13 one of the youngest medalists in the history of the Games and the youngest Olympic medalist from Brazil.

John le Carré: …Cold (1963), which centred on Alec Leamas, an aging British intelligence agent ordered to discredit an East German official. Unlike the usual glamorous spies of fiction, Leamas is a lonely and alienated man, without a respectable career or a place in society. Immensely popular, the book was adapted into a…

Royal Leamington Spa, town and urban area (from 2011 built-up area), Warwick district, administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, central England. It lies along the River Leam, which is a tributary of the River Avon (Upper Avon). Historically, an ancient tree—the Midland Oak, 2 miles (3

aerospace industry: Lean manufacturing: …that effort was established the Lean Aerospace Initiative, a consortium of 20 companies and several government agencies. With federal funding, the participating firms undertook pilot programs, some of which led to the incorporation of commercial lean manufacturing practices in the manufacture of defense products. Although these changes have produced major…

Sheryl Sandberg: Sandberg articulated her philosophy in Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (2013); the book was published in concert with the launch of Lean In, an education and community-building organization for women in business. Though Sandberg’s advocacy was generally well received, some critics noted that her experience and…

Agustín Yáñez: Las tierras flacas (1962; The Lean Lands) shows the effect of industrialization on a peasant society. Tres cuentos (1964; “Three Stories”) and Los sentidos al aire (1964; “The Ways the Wind Blows”), short-story collections, deal with man’s attempt to come to grips with time and space. His Obras escogidas…

aerospace industry: Lean manufacturing: Consistent with improving the economics of aerospace vehicles is the transition to a new paradigm for the entire industry, from concept development to operations. This approach involves all processes pertaining to the acquisition, design, development, and manufacturing of a product or system and…

natural gas: Recovery of hydrocarbon liquids: …with a liquid hydrocarbon, called lean oil, in an absorber column, where heavier components in the gas are absorbed in the lean oil. The bulk of the gas is discharged from the top of the absorber as residue gas (usually containing 95 percent methane) for subsequent treatment to remove sulfur…

John G. Avildsen: …disappeared without a trace, but Lean on Me (1989), an inspirational biopic based on the exploits of New Jersey school principal Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman), was a hit. The Karate Kid, Part III (1989), Rocky V (1990), and The Power of One (1992) were all sports-themed, as was the little-seen…

David Lean was a British film director whose literate epic productions featured spectacular cinematography and stunning locales. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Lean was the son of strict Quaker parents and did not see his first film until age 17. He began his film

David Lean was a British film director whose literate epic productions featured spectacular cinematography and stunning locales. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Lean was the son of strict Quaker parents and did not see his first film until age 17. He began his film

greenhouse: …or A-shaped, roof, and the lean-to greenhouse, which has only one roof slope and leans against the side of a building. Two or more span-type greenhouses are sometimes joined side by side so that they have fewer external walls, and heating costs are consequently less. A greenhouse has a large…

saltbox: …of the hall into a lean-to constructed at the back of the house. The pitched roof was then extended downward over the new kitchen, creating the characteristic long-in-back silhouette that gave the house its name. Late in the 17th century the lean-to was often included as part of the original…

Moldova: Independent Moldova: …April 2013 by political ally Iurie Leancă, and Leancă continued the country’s pivot toward the West. Russia responded by closing its borders to Moldovan wine exports and threatening to disrupt the flow of Russian natural gas. When Russia forcibly annexed the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea in March 2014, tensions…

Hero and Leander: …seen at a festival by Leander of Abydos; they fell in love, and he swam the Hellespont at night to visit her, guided by a light from her tower. One stormy night the light was extinguished, and Leander was drowned; Hero, seeing his body, drowned herself likewise.

St. Isidore of Sevilla: Leander as archbishop of Sevilla (Seville) about 600, during a time when the Spanish church witnessed numerous councils, one of the greatest being the fourth Council of Toledo (633). Isidore headed this council, which, among other politico-religious matters, decreed union between church and state, toleration…

Killarney: …lakes are Lough Leane (Lower Lake), Muckross (Middle) Lake, and Upper Lake. Lower Lake is the northernmost and, covering about 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares), is the largest of the Killarney lakes. Lower Lake’s 30 islands include Innisfallen, with a 9th-century abbey. Lower Lake is separated from Muckross Lake by…

appoggiatura, (from Italian appoggiare, “to lean”), in music, an ornamental note of long or short duration that temporarily displaces, and subsequently resolves into, a main note, usually by stepwise motion. During the Renaissance and early Baroque, the appoggiatura was of moderate length,

Leaning Tower of Pisa, medieval structure in Pisa, Italy, that is famous for the settling of its foundations, which caused it to lean 5.5 degrees (about 15 feet [4.5 metres]) from the perpendicular in the late 20th century. Extensive work was subsequently done to straighten the tower, and its lean

Yves Klein: For Leap into the Void (1960) he staged a photograph showing the artist leaping, arms spread, from a building. Capturing the artist suspended in space, the photograph appears to show him levitating by his own spiritual power. Klein died at age 34, but the variety of…

Christianity: Faith and reason: …in his idea of the leap of faith. He believed that without risk there is no faith, and that the greater the risk the greater the faith. Faith is thus a passionate commitment, not based upon reason but inwardly necessitated, to that which can be grasped in no other way.

Steve Martin: Story (1991), and Leap of Faith (1992), and he maintained his popular appeal in such films as Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Roxanne (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Parenthood (1989), Father of the Bride

leap second, a second added to the clock to resolve discrepancies between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is measured by atomic clocks, and astronomical time (UT1), as measured by Earth’s rotation. Leap seconds are added to keep the difference between UTC and UT1 at less than 0.9 second.

Amy Adams: Breakthrough and stardom: …starred in the romantic comedy Leap Year (2010) and in The Fighter (2010), a drama in which she played against type as the street-smart girlfriend of an up-and-coming boxer. For the latter role, she received her third Academy Award nomination. In 2011 Adams acted alongside Kermit the Frog and Miss…

leap year, year containing some intercalary period, especially a Gregorian year having a 29th day of February instead of the standard 28 days. The astronomical year, the time taken for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun, is about 365.242 days, or, to a first approximation, 365.25 days.

locomotion: Saltation: The locomotor pattern of saltation (hopping) is confined mainly to kangaroos, anurans (tailless amphibians), rabbits, and some groups of rodents in the vertebrates and to a number of insect families in the arthropods. All saltatory animals have hind legs that are approximately twice as…

bonito: The leaping bonito (Cybiosarda elegans) is a related Indo-Pacific food and sport fish. The oceanic bonito is the skipjack tuna (see tuna).

louping ill, viral disease mainly of sheep and red grouse, causing inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. The causative agent, known as louping ill virus, is a type of flavivirus. It is transmitted by bites of the castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus). The disease is most common in grassland

Sid Chaplin: The Leaping Lad (1946; rev. ed., 1970), a collection of short stories about the Durham mining community, established Chaplin as a talented regional writer. His next novel, The Thin Seam (1950), was another acutely observed portrait of coal-mining life, and The Day of the Sardine…

Indridae, family of arboreal Madagascan primates. See avahi; indri;

English literature: Poets and poetry after Pope: …later in the century include Mary Leapor, a Northhamptonshire kitchen servant who was also a witty verse satirist, celebrated by contemporaries only after her early death. Much admired in their own lifetimes were Anna Seward and Hannah More, both of whom wrote much miscellaneous prose as well as poetry, and…

tag, children’s game in which, in its simplest form, the player who is “it” chases the other players, trying to touch one of them, thereby making that person “it.” The game is known by many names, such as leapsa in Romania and kynigito in parts of modern Greece. In some variants the children

Lear, legendary British king and central character of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. One of the most moving of Shakespeare’s tragic figures, Lear grows in self-awareness as he diminishes in authority and loses his illusions. Lear at the outset presents the very picture of foolish egotism and is

Lear: …moving of Shakespeare’s tragic figures, Lear grows in self-awareness as he diminishes in authority and loses his illusions. Lear at the outset presents the very picture of foolish egotism and is tricked out of what he has expected to be a carefree retirement by his own need for flattery. Believing…

A Lear of the Steppes, short story by Ivan Turgenev, published in 1870 as “Stepnoy Korol Lir”; it has also been translated as “King Lear of the Steppes.” A loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, set in the Russian countryside, the story concerns the disrespectful treatment the

macaw: …Colombia and Central America, and Lear’s macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) of Brazil. The most recent confirmed sighting of a non-captive Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii)—the bird that inspired the popular children’s films Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014)—occurred in 2000, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other authorities…

Edward Lear was an English landscape painter who is more widely known as the writer of an original kind of nonsense verse and as the popularizer of the limerick. His true genius is apparent in his nonsense poems, which portray a world of fantastic creatures in nonsense words, often suggesting a

William P. Lear: In 1939 he founded Lear, Inc. By 1939 more than half the private airplanes in the United States were using Lear radio and navigational equipment. In World War II, the company manufactured cowl-flap motors and other precision devices for Allied aircraft. After World War II, Lear, Inc. introduced a…

Norman Lear was an American producer, writer, and director known especially for his work on such seminal television series as All in the Family (1971–79), Sanford and Son (1972–77), and The Jeffersons (1975–85). After a brief stint at Emerson College in Boston, Lear enlisted in the U.S. Air Force,

Norman Lear was an American producer, writer, and director known especially for his work on such seminal television series as All in the Family (1971–79), Sanford and Son (1972–77), and The Jeffersons (1975–85). After a brief stint at Emerson College in Boston, Lear enlisted in the U.S. Air Force,

William P. Lear was a self-taught American electrical engineer and industrialist whose Lear Jet Corporation was the first mass-manufacturer of business jet aircraft in the world. Lear also developed the automobile radio, the eight-track stereo tape player for automobiles, and the miniature

William P. Lear was a self-taught American electrical engineer and industrialist whose Lear Jet Corporation was the first mass-manufacturer of business jet aircraft in the world. Lear also developed the automobile radio, the eight-track stereo tape player for automobiles, and the miniature

aerospace industry: Growth of the aircraft industry: His Learjet 23, the first aircraft of this type, began deliveries in 1964.

Thomas The Rhymer was a Scottish poet and prophet who was likely the author of the metrical romance Sir Tristrem, a version of the widely diffused Tristan legend. The romance was first printed in 1804 by Sir Walter Scott from a manuscript of about 1300. Thomas is now probably best known through the

learning theory: Contemporary trends in learning theory: …early 1930s the distinction between learned and inherited behaviour seemed clearer than it does now. The view that any bit of behaviour either was learned or simply developed without learning seemed straightforward. Studies based on these expectations led investigators to conclude that rat-killing behaviour among cats is learned rather than…