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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Smithback's informant say his name is?
(a) Mephisto.
(b) Goose.
(c) Trail Blazer.
(d) Tail Gunner.

2. How are Pendergast and D'Agosta dressed in Chapter 23, as they make their way toward the tunnels?
(a) As doctors.
(b) As police officers.
(c) As normal citizens.
(d) As homeless men.

3. Smithback's informant insists that Smtihback must meet whom?
(a) Arnold Murray.
(b) Mephisto.
(c) Tail Gunner.
(d) Elvis.

4. In what year was Linnaeus Hall constructed?
(a) 1799.
(b) 1927.
(c) 1951.
(d) 1882.

5. What business with Mephisto does Pendergast tell the squatters he has?
(a) Drugs.
(b) Wrinklers.
(c) Money laundering.
(d) Mbwun.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the conclusion made by the medical examiner after examining the teeth marks on the bones of the victims?

2. Where did Pamela expect to begin working?

3. What shocking news does Frock give Margo in Chapter 22?

4. What does Hayward tell Waxie and D'Agosta to watch for in the lower level?

5. What is the identity of the deformed skeleton?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do you think is the importance of the New York Museum of Natural History to the storyline?

2. How might Margo's expertise in ethnopharmacology be an example of foreshadowing?

3. Why do you think the author mentions his previous book, "Relic"?

4. What is Brambell's theory about what animal is responsible for the teeth marks on Pamela Wisher's bones? How does this change the direction of the investigation?

5. Waxie is a misogynist. What does his presence add to the story, and how does that contribute to the overall storyline?

6. What do you think is the author's purpose in describing Sergeant Hayward's physical characteristics in such detail?

7. What kind of influence do you think a woman like Mrs. Wisher would likely have on the political climate? Does she show that she is willing to use that influence to force matters in the direction she wants them to go? What gives you that indication?

8. What is the basic precept of Frock's theory of fractal evolution? How would it apply to the events taking place in the story?

9. What purpose might an evolutionary biologist and a biologist whose specialty is genetics serve to the police in this story?

10. Does the existence of an underground "clan" seem plausible? What do you think is their purpose in the story?

(see the answer keys)

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