Botta’s Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae) Botta’s pocket gopher or valley pocket gopher are two common names for this fossorial (i.e., digging or burrowing) mammal. Botta (or bottae) honors Italian Paolo Emilio Botta, a 19th century naturalist, who visited California in 1827 on a collecting expedition for the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He is known to archaeologists as the discoverer of the Assyrian rui ...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Researcher: Rachel Sahlman "How do I love thee, let me count the ways." These words, penned by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, are some of the most widely-known love lyrics in Victorian English poetry. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England on March 6, 1806. She was the first of eleven children born to Edward and Mary Barrett. Browning was privately educated and spent much of her childhood in the country. It was a very happy childh ...