Many fixed and movable festivals in ancient Mexico were occasions for human sacrifice. The sun in particular was offered hearts and blood, ostensibly because its vitality and, therefore, life itself depended on such oblations. Numerous festivals also included ritual cannibalism, apparently because it was thought to facilitate communion with the gods.

Patterns of residential segregation in late-nineteenth-century southern cities had great influence on the type of African American business that developed. They also affected the relative stability of business enterprise. In neighborhoods with a higher degree of segregation, African American entrepreneurs were able to develop vital businesses that survived the worsening climate of race relations around the turn of the century.

This collection of essays, like many originating from conferences, is rather uneven and at times lacks focus. More problematic, the volume purports to discuss “western” industrialization, when, in fact, with but one exception it is about the nature of industrialization in Europe. Taking it on its own merits, though, this is a valuable and important addition to the growing collection of studies suggesting an alternative to the idea of a single path of industrialization. As opposed to the concept that all countries and industries went through a rapid and traumatic transition to machine production and mass production using unskilled workers, these essays demonstrate the complexities and the range of choices taken by manufacturers in a wide variety of industries and nations.

Findings from the first two years of a long-term study of conifer log decomposition are presented. Log decomposition is regulated by the physical and chemical states, and development of decomposer foodwebs. The functional group with the greatest initial effect on the log is the channelisers, represented in our study by ambrosia and bark beetles. They not only create multitudes of channels into the logs but vector the initial decomposer community. Ambrosia beetles exclude certain elements of the decomposer community from channels until they vacate the log, at the end of their reproductive phase. The foodweb during the early stages of decomposition includes nitrogen-fixing and other bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and arthropods. Seasonal fluctuations of temperature and moisture are hypothesised to work in tandem to modulate the activities of the decomposer community.