Jainism: Monks, nuns, and their practices: For the non-image-worshipping Sthanakavasis and the Terapanthis, the mukhavastrika must be worn at all times. After initiation a monk must adhere to the “great vows” (mahavratas) to avoid injuring any life-form, lying, stealing, having sexual intercourse, or accepting personal possessions. To help him keep his vows, a monk’s…

Theravada, major form of Buddhism prevalent in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Theravada, like all other Buddhist schools, claims to adhere most closely to the original doctrines and practices taught by the Buddha. Theravadins accept as authoritative the Pali

Bellerophon: …of King Proetus of Argos—named Anteia (in Homer’s telling) or Stheneboea (in the works of Hesiod and later writers)—loved Bellerophon; when he rejected her overtures, she falsely accused him to her husband. Proetus then sent Bellerophon to Iobates, the king of Lycia, with a message that he was to be…

Gorgon: …number of Gorgons to three—Stheno (the Mighty), Euryale (the Far Springer), and Medusa (the Queen)—and made them the daughters of the sea god Phorcys and of his sister-wife Ceto. The Attic tradition regarded the Gorgon as a monster produced by Gaea, the personification of Earth, to aid her sons…

Digambara: Sthulabhadra, the leader of the monks who remained in the north, allowed the wearing of white garments, possibly, according to the Digambara account, as a concession to the hardships and confusion caused by the famine. The Digambara legend places the schism quite early in Jain…

imatinib, anticancer drug used primarily in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Imatinib was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2001 under the trade name Gleevec for the treatment of CML. The following year it was approved for the treatment of advanced

sculpture: Relief sculpture: Stiacciato relief is an extremely subtle type of flat, low relief carving that is especially associated with the 15th-century sculptors Donatello and Desiderio da Settignano. The design is partly drawn with finely engraved chisel lines and partly carved in relief. The stiacciato technique depends largely…

antimonide: …antimonides are dyscrasite (Ag3Sb) and stibiopalladinite (Pd5Sb2). Dyscrasite exhibits a distinct orthorhombic symmetry. It is an important silver ore that occurs in deposits of hydrothermal origin associated with intrusive igneous rocks; significant amounts are found at Cobalt, Ont., Can., and at Broken Hill, N.S.W., Australia. Stibiopalladinite exhibits trigonal symmetry. It…

George Robert Stibitz was a U.S. mathematician and inventor. He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University. In 1940 he and Samuel Williams, a colleague at Bell Labs, built the Complex Number Calculator, considered a forerunner of the digital computer. He accomplished the first remote computer

stibnite, antimony sulfide (Sb2S3), the principal ore of antimony. This mineral has a brilliant metallic lustre, is lead- to steel-gray in colour, and fuses readily in a candle flame (at about 525° C [977° F]). It often possesses a bladed habit, is striated, and has one perfect cleavage. Stibnite

prosody: Influence of period and genre: …distinct kinds of metres: “stichic” forms (i.e., consisting of “stichs,” or lines, as metrical units) such as the iambic trimeter for the spoken dialogues; and lyric, or strophic, forms (i.e., consisting of stanzas), of great metrical intricacy, for the singing and chanting of choruses. Certain of the Greek metres…

prickleback, any of numerous fishes constituting the family Stichaeidae (order Perciformes). All of the approximately 60 species are marine, and most are restricted to the northern Pacific Ocean; a few species occur in the North Atlantic. Members of the family are characteristically elongate, with

alb: …the Eastern churches is the sticharion.

troparion, short hymn or stanza sung in Greek Orthodox religious services. The word probably derives from a diminutive of the Greek tropos (“something repeated,” “manner,” “fashion”), with a possible analogy to the Italian ritornello (“refrain”; diminutive of ritorno, “return”). Since the 5th

fungus: Form and function of lichens: …phycobionts, such as Coccomyxa and Stichococcus, which are not penetrated by haustoria, have thin-walled cells that are pressed close to fungal hyphae.

protist: Pseudopodia: …example, the marine pelagic organism Sticholonche has axopodia that move like oars, even rotating in basal sockets reminiscent of oarlocks.

stichomythia, dialogue in alternate lines, a form sometimes used in Classical Greek drama in which two characters alternate speaking single epigrammatic lines of verse. This device, which is found in such plays as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is often used as a means to show

stichomythia, dialogue in alternate lines, a form sometimes used in Classical Greek drama in which two characters alternate speaking single epigrammatic lines of verse. This device, which is found in such plays as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is often used as a means to show

stichomythia, dialogue in alternate lines, a form sometimes used in Classical Greek drama in which two characters alternate speaking single epigrammatic lines of verse. This device, which is found in such plays as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is often used as a means to show

stichomythia, dialogue in alternate lines, a form sometimes used in Classical Greek drama in which two characters alternate speaking single epigrammatic lines of verse. This device, which is found in such plays as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is often used as a means to show

history of the Low Countries: The spiritual principalities: …a secular principality called a Sticht (as distinct from the diocese) or—where the power structure was very large and complex, as in the case of the bishop of Liège—a prince-bishopric. As princes, the bishops were vassals of the king, having to fulfill military and advisory duties in the same way…

Artis Zoological Garden, zoological garden founded in 1838 by the Royal Zoological Society of Holland. It occupies a 10-hectare (25-acre) site in Amsterdam and houses nearly 5,600 specimens of some 1,350 species. Heavily oriented toward scientific research, the zoo has an animal behaviour

Royal Rotterdam Zoological Garden Foundation, zoological garden in Rotterdam, Netherlands, that was opened in 1887 by a private zoological society. It was essentially the outgrowth of the private collection of two railway workers who kept exotic animals as a hobby. Because of the need for

airplane: Elevator, aileron, and rudder controls: …flight controls consist of a stick or wheel control column and rudder pedals, which control the movement of the elevator and ailerons and the rudder, respectively, through a system of cables or rods. In very sophisticated modern aircraft, there is no direct mechanical linkage between the

Björk: …Today, Tomorrow, Next Week! and Stick Around for Joy, the band broke up, and Björk embarked on a solo career.

stringed instrument: Lutes: …is the division between the stick fiddle, in which the player’s finger does not actually press the string to a fingerboard (but rather slides up and down the string itself), and the fiddle with a fingerboard (for example, the violin). The Mongolian morin huur (also spelled khuur) is unique in…

sports: Sports in the Renaissance and modern periods: …century, traditional pastimes such as stick fighting and bullbaiting, which the Puritans had condemned and driven underground, gave way to organized games such as cricket, which developed under the leadership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (founded 1787). Behind these changes lay a new conception of rationalized competition. Contests that seem…

walking stick, (order Phasmida, or Phasmatodea), any of about 3,000 species of slow-moving insects that are green or brown in color and bear a resemblance to twigs as a protective device. Walking sticks found in the tropics are the largest and most abundant. Walking sticks are related to leaf

navigation: Instruments: …particular case of airspeed, “stick shake”—that is, artificially induced vibration of the control column in the event that indicated airspeed falls close to stalling speed.

Stick style, Style of residential design popular in the U.S. in the 1860s and ’70s, a precursor to the Shingle style. The Stick style favoured an imitation half-timbered effect, with boards attached to the exterior walls in grids suggestive of the underlying frame construction. Other characteristic

furniture: Constructional style and stylization: The stick-back chair consists of a solid seat into which the legs, back staves, and possibly the armrests are directly mortised (joined by a tenon or projecting part of one piece of wood and mortise or groove in the other piece). Furniture of bent steel tubing,…

Whillans Ice Stream: Stick-slip motion: One of the most marked dynamic features of Whillans Ice Stream is its tide-driven stick-slip cycle, in which the ice stream slides forward briefly twice per day, once at high tide and once midway into falling tide. Each movement covers a distance of…

stickball, game played on a street or other restricted area, with a stick, such as a mop handle or broomstick, and a hard rubber ball. Stickball developed in the late 18th century from such English games as old cat, rounders, and town ball. Stickball also relates to a game played in southern

meat processing: pH changes: …slaughter (a process known as exsanguination), oxygen is no longer available to the muscle cells, and anaerobic glycolysis becomes the only means of energy production available. As a result, glycogen stores are completely converted to lactic acid, which then begins to build up, causing the pH to drop. Typically, the…

stickleback, any of about eight species of fishes in five genera of the family Gasterosteidae (order Gasterosteiformes) found in fresh, brackish, and marine waters in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere as far north as the Arctic Ocean. Sticklebacks are small, elongated fishes that reach a

Gustav Stickley was an American furniture designer and maker who largely created what came to be known as the Mission style. Stickley learned basic furniture-making skills in a Pennsylvania chair factory owned by his uncle. After a time he took over the factory, and in 1884 he moved it to

Phobos: This structure, known as Stickney, measures about 10 km (6 miles) across. Precise observations of Phobos’s position over the past century suggest that tidal forces from Mars are slowly pulling the satellite toward the planet. If such is the case, it will collide with Mars in the very distant…

David Rabe: In Sticks and Bones (1972; film 1973), a blinded, distraught veteran returns to his middle-American family; he cannot deal with his anger and sorrow, and they eagerly help him commit suicide. The work was Rabe’s first to be mounted on Broadway, and it won a Tony…

Bidens, cosmopolitan genus of weedy herbs in the family Asteraceae, consisting of about 230 species. Bidens plants are variously known as bur marigold, sticktights, and tickseed sunflowers. They are characterized by fruits with two to four barbed bristles that become attached to animal coats or to

flea: Importance: …dog flea (Ctenocephalides canis), the sticktight flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea), and the jigger, or chigoe, flea (Tunga penetrans). Poultry may be parasitized by the European chicken flea (Ceratophyllus gallinae) and, in the United States, by the western chicken flea (Ceratophyllus niger).

the Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.: …Let It Bleed (1969) and Sticky Fingers (1971) plus the in-concert Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! (1970) gave them the repertoire and image that still defines them and on which they have continued to trade ever since: an incendiary blend of sex, drugs, Satanism, and radical politics delivered with their patented…

sticky toffee pudding, a classic British dessert consisting of a dark, dense sponge cake made with chopped dates that is topped with a sweet toffee sauce; it may also be served with vanilla ice cream or custard. Although its origins are unclear, it was likely invented during the 20th century in the

treehopper: The buffalo treehopper, Stictocephala (or Ceresa) bubalus, 6 to 8 mm (0.2 to 0.3 inch) long, is harmful to young orchard trees, especially apple trees. The oak treehoppers, Platycotis vittata and P. quadrivittata, feed on deciduous and evergreen oaks. Treehoppers can be controlled by applying insecticides…

paca: The mountain paca (C. taczanowskii) is smaller and has a long dense coat. Found high in the Andes Mountains from western Venezuela to northwestern Bolivia, it lives at the upper limits of mountain forest and in alpine pastures.

freckled duck, (Stictonetta naevosa), rare Australian waterfowl, characterized by dark dots scattered over its metallic-gray plumage; in breeding season the drake’s bill turns red. The freckled duck is a surface feeder. It lacks alarm calls, courtship display, and demonstrative pair bonds. It may

freckled duck: …may constitute a separate tribe, Stictonettini, family Anatidae (q.v.; order Anseriformes). The duck has been classified as endangered by the Australian government, which has taken measures to protect it.

intelligence: Intelligence and the rise of nationalism: Frederick, and later Wilhelm Stieber, an aide to the Prussian prime minister and later German chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), organized the intelligence-gathering functions of the general staff. Under Stieber, a single military intelligence agency—the world’s first large-scale espionage organization—was established to serve as the country’s eyes on…

Henry William Stiegel was an ironmaster, glassmaker, and town builder whose spectacular rise and fall in early American industry is now remembered because of the high-quality blue, purple, green, and crystal-clear glassware that he produced. Stiegel arrived in Philadelphia in 1750, and by 1760 he

Henry William Stiegel was an ironmaster, glassmaker, and town builder whose spectacular rise and fall in early American industry is now remembered because of the high-quality blue, purple, green, and crystal-clear glassware that he produced. Stiegel arrived in Philadelphia in 1750, and by 1760 he

Alfred Stieglitz was an art dealer, publisher, advocate for the Modernist movement in the arts, and, arguably, the most important photographer of his time. Stieglitz was the son of Edward Stieglitz, a German Jew who moved to the United States in 1849 and went on to make a comfortable fortune in the

Julius Stieglitz was a U.S. chemist who interpreted the behaviour and structure of organic compounds in the light of valence theory and applied the methods of physical chemistry to organic chemistry. Stieglitz received his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin (1889) and later was associated with the

Thomas Jan Stieltjes was a Dutch-born French mathematician who made notable contributions to the theory of infinite series. He is remembered as “the father of the analytic theory of continued fractions.” Stieltjes was the son of a civil engineer and enrolled in 1873 at the École Polytechnique in

Vietnam: Languages: Mang (Maa), Muong, and Stieng—speak Mon-Khmer languages, connecting them with the Khmer. French missionaries and administrators provided Roman script for some of the Montagnard languages, and additional orthographies have since been devised.

Georg Stiernhielm was a poet and scholar, often called “the father of Swedish poetry.” Stiernhielm, the son of a miner, studied at Uppsala and spent several years at the German universities of Greifswald, Wittenberg, and Helmstedt. He returned to Sweden in 1626 and soon obtained a judicial position

M*A*S*H: Charles Emerson Winchester (David Ogden Stiers), their priggish foil from 1977 until the end of the series. The base was officially commanded by incompetent but genial Lieut. Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) and later in the series (1975–83) by irascible Col. Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan). However, the base’s…

Sétif, town, northeastern Algeria, near the Wadi Bou Sellam. As ancient Sitifis, it became important when the Roman emperor Nerva established a veterans’ colony there in 97 ce. Sitifis became the chief town of the province of Mauretania Sitifensis (created 297 ce) and remained so under Byzantine

stew: A Greek stifado of beef is flavoured with red wine, onions, tomatoes, bay leaf, and garlic, and it may contain cubes of feta cheese. Two American stews deserve mention: Brunswick stew (originating in Brunswick County, Virginia) combines squirrel, rabbit—more commonly today, chicken—sweet corn, lima beans,

torticollis, abnormality in which the neck is in a twisted, bent position such that the head is pulled to one side and the chin points to the other. In infants the most common causes of torticollis include congenital shortening of muscles on one side of the neck, malposition of the fetus in the

Stiff Records: Do-It-Yourself Daring: Independent labels have given voice to music otherwise ignored or rebuffed by the major labels. Stiff was set up to record pub rock, yet it prospered because of punk, the style that displaced the pub rock movement. This is but one of several paradoxes associated…

Independent labels have given voice to music otherwise ignored or rebuffed by the major labels. Stiff was set up to record pub rock, yet it prospered because of punk, the style that displaced the pub rock movement. This is but one of several paradoxes associated with that label, which started in

AC/DC: …produced by Rick Rubin, and Stiff Upper Lip (2000), an album that attempted to capture the stadium-filling sound of the Back in Black era. After more than 30 years of producing some of the roughest and loudest head-banging anthems in heavy metal history, AC/DC scored its first Billboard number one…

brick and tile: Mixing and forming: In the stiff-mud process the clay is mixed with water to render it plastic, after which it is forced through a die that extrudes a column of clay like the toothpaste squeezed from a tube (see the Figure). The column gives two dimensions of the unit being…

Céline Dion: Death of husband and stiff-person syndrome diagnosis: …she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome. The rare neurological disorder was causing spasms that affected her mobility and vocal cords. As she underwent treatment, Dion canceled or postponed various dates for her 2023 tour.

stifftail, any of several small, round ducks with short wings and long, spiky tail feathers, of the tribe Oxyurini, family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). A common and typical stifftail is the ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) of North America. In most species the drake has shiny reddish plumage and a

Susan Faludi: Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, a controversial examination of working-class male consciousness, appeared in 1999. In The Terror Dream (2007), Faludi explored the American response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, arguing that the media promoted patriarchal views of gender. Her later works…

myositis ossificans, disorder of unknown cause in which connective tissue and muscle are replaced by bone. In the more common local type (myositis ossificans circumscripta), only one area is affected; ossification is usually observed to follow injury to the part. In the rare progressive type

stifftail, any of several small, round ducks with short wings and long, spiky tail feathers, of the tribe Oxyurini, family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). A common and typical stifftail is the ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) of North America. In most species the drake has shiny reddish plumage and a

Adalbert Stifter was an Austrian narrative writer whose novels of almost classical purity exalt the humble virtues of a simple life. He was the son of a linen weaver and flax merchant, and his childhood experiences in the country, surrounded by peasant craftsmen, provided the setting for his work.

ballad: Outlaws and badmen: …Marko Kraljević or the Danish Marsk Stig is exactly matched by the English Robin Hood, who is the hero of some 40 ballads, most of them of minstrel or broadside provenance. His chivalrous style and generosity to the poor was imitated by later ballad highwaymen in “Dick Turpin,” “Brennan on…

Stigand was the archbishop of Canterbury, probably the English king Canute’s priest of this name whom he placed over the minster of Ashingdon in Essex in 1020. Stigand was consecrated bishop of Elmham in 1043 but was deposed later in the year when Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, fell

Tomas Tranströmer: Tranströmer’s next volume, Stigar (1973; “Paths”), included translations into Swedish of some of Bly’s work. The Baltic coast, which captured Tranströmer’s imagination as a boy, is the setting for Östersjöar (1974; Baltics). His later works include Sanningsbarriären (1978; The Truth Barrier), Det vilda torget (1983; The Wild Marketplace),…

George J. Stigler was an American economist whose incisive and unorthodox studies of marketplace behaviour and the effects of government regulation won him the 1982 Nobel Prize for Economics. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1931, Stigler took a business degree at Northwestern

George J. Stigler was an American economist whose incisive and unorthodox studies of marketplace behaviour and the effects of government regulation won him the 1982 Nobel Prize for Economics. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1931, Stigler took a business degree at Northwestern

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist who, with A. Michael Spence and George A. Akerlof, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 for laying the foundations for the theory of markets with asymmetric information. After studying at Amherst College (B.A., 1964) in Massachusetts and the

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist who, with A. Michael Spence and George A. Akerlof, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 for laying the foundations for the theory of markets with asymmetric information. After studying at Amherst College (B.A., 1964) in Massachusetts and the

Anatoly Shcharansky: His wife, née Natalya Stiglitz, had also applied for a visa to go to Israel and was allowed to emigrate a day after their marriage in 1974. She adopted the Hebrew name Avital and, until his release, championed his cause from Jerusalem and in her travels abroad. Shcharansky’s…

stigmata, in Christian mysticism, bodily marks, scars, or pains corresponding to those of the crucified Jesus Christ—that is, on the hands, on the feet, near the heart, and sometimes on the head (from the crown of thorns) or shoulders and back (from carrying the cross and scourging). They are often

angiosperm: Pollination: …grain lands on a receptive stigma. The surface of the stigma can be wet or dry and is often composed of specialized glandular tissue; the style is lined with secretory transmitting tissue. Their secretions provide an environment that nourishes the pollen tube as it elongates and grows down the style.…

eyespot, a heavily pigmented region in certain one-celled organisms that apparently functions in light reception. The term is also applied to certain light-sensitive cells in the epidermis (skin) of some invertebrate animals (e.g., worms, starfishes). In the green one-celled organism Euglena, the

steroid: Partial synthesis of steroids: Stigmasterol, which is readily obtainable from soybean oil, can be transformed easily to progesterone and to other hormones, and commercial processes based on this sterol have been developed.

stigmata, in Christian mysticism, bodily marks, scars, or pains corresponding to those of the crucified Jesus Christ—that is, on the hands, on the feet, near the heart, and sometimes on the head (from the crown of thorns) or shoulders and back (from carrying the cross and scourging). They are often

midget moth, any member of the approximately 300 species in the cosmopolitan family Nepticulidae (sometimes called Stigmellidae), containing some of the smallest members of the order Lepidoptera. Most have long and pointed wings generally covered with scales and spinelike hairs; the wingspan is

Saturday Night Fever: Background and production: Producer Robert Stigwood purchased the article’s film rights, and Travolta, mostly known for playing preening high-school student Vinnie Barbarino in the TV series Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–79), was cast in the lead role. John G. Avildsen was initially hired to direct, but he was replaced by…

De Stijl, group of Dutch artists in Amsterdam in 1917, including the painters Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, and Vilmos Huszár, the architect Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, and the poet A. Kok; other early associates of De Stijl were Bart van der Leck, Georges Vantongerloo, Jan Wils, and Robert

De Stijl: …principles, launched the group’s periodical, De Stijl (1917–32), which set forth the theories of its members.

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok: …collection of poems, the cycle Stikhi o prekrasnoy dame (1904; “Verses About the Lady Beautiful”), focuses on personal, intimate themes that are presented on a mystical plane and lack any contemporaneity. The heroine of the poems is not only the beloved whom the poet treats with knightly chivalry but is…

Stikine River, stream in northwestern British Columbia, Can., and southeastern Alaska, U.S. It rises in several headstreams in the Stikine Ranges of northern British Columbia and flows in a wide arc west and southwest through narrow valleys often backed by towering, snowcapped mountains, skirting

Olaf II Haraldsson: …and Danish army in the Battle of Stiklestad (1030), one of the most celebrated battles in ancient Norse history. Olaf’s popularity, his church work, and the aura of legend that surrounded his death, which was supposedly accompanied by miracles, led to his canonization in 1031. His popularity spread rapidly; churches…

Gottfried Semper: In his influential writings, principally Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten (1860–63; “Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts”) he stressed a rational interpretation of techniques as a source of style, and recommended the use of colour in decorative arts and architecture.

photochemical reaction: Photoisomerization: …of optical radiation by a stilbene molecule converts the central double bond from trans to cis. As in photodissociation, this is caused by the electron distribution in the excited state being quite different from that in the ground state; hence, the structure of the initially created excited singlet (by absorption…

stilbite, mineral similar to heulandite (q.v.), a member of the zeolite

Western music: The Baroque era: One, the prima prattica (or stile antico), was the universal style of the 16th century, the culmination of two centuries of adherence to Flemish models. The other, called seconda prattica, or stile moderno, referred to the new theatrical style emanating from Italy.

concertato style, musical style characterized by the interaction of two or more groups of instruments or voices. The term is derived from the Italian concertare, “concerted,” which implies that a heterogeneous group of performers is brought together in a harmonious ensemble. The advent of the

Art Nouveau, style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. Art Nouveau is characterized by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line and was employed most often in architecture, interior design, jewelry and glass design, posters, and illustration.

Art Nouveau, style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. Art Nouveau is characterized by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line and was employed most often in architecture, interior design, jewelry and glass design, posters, and illustration.

Baroque music: …for sacred music, while the stile moderno, or nuove musiche—with its emphasis on solo voice, polarity of the melody and the bass line, and interest in expressive harmony—developed for secular usage. The expanded vocabulary allowed for a clearer distinction between sacred and secular music as well as between vocal and…

rocket and missile system: Multiple warheads: …10 500-kiloton warheads; and the SS-19 Stiletto, with six 550-kiloton warheads. Each of these Soviet systems had several versions that traded multiple warheads for higher yield. For instance, the SS-18, model 3, carried a single 20-megaton warhead. This giant missile, which replaced the SS-9 in the latter’s silos, had about…

stiletto fly, (family Therevidae), any of about 1,600 species of insects in the fly order, Diptera. Adults are hairy or bristly, with slender bodies. They are usually found in open areas, such as pastures. The larvae occur in soil and decaying matter, and both adults and larvae are predatory. The

burrowing asp, (genus Atractaspis), any of 19 species of venomous, secretive snakes, also known as mole vipers and stiletto snakes, of tropical Africa and the Middle East. They belong to the family Atractaspididae, a group distinct from vipers and elapids. Atractaspidids are characterized by a

Stelvio Pass, Alpine pass (9,042 feet [2,756 m]) at the northwest base of the Ortles mountain range in northern Italy near the Swiss border. One of the highest road passes in Europe, it connects the Venosta valley of the upper Adige River to the northeast with the Tellina valley of the upper Adda