Your favourite Entomological Books.

[nomad]

In the, show your favourite specimen forum, we often see some superb insects but all the collectors of bugs whether your passion is butterflies, moths, beetles, flies or other insects will all have their favourite Entomological books. What are your most indispensable reference works or what are your favourites. Why do you think these books stand out above the others and it would be interesting for other members here to have a brief history of the authors. Having a reference collection is very important but without the literature, written by those with a deep interest in your subject, it would be much less interesting. Here are four of mine.

Butterflies [1945 and later editions] New Naturalist Series. Edmund Brisco Henry Ford [1901-1988]
The first butterfly book that I ever saw, I was too young to understand much of the contents, however I decided to make a butterfly collection after seeing the colour plates of British set specimens. I have since read this book many times and still do. This grounding breaking work was one of the first to deal with the problem of butterfly genetics. Ford was a very eccentric but brilliant Oxford lecturer and professor and spent many years working on genetic polymorphisem. One of my favourite chapters is, The History of British Butterfly Collecting. Ford went on to produce another great volume in this series, Moths in 1954.






Pages and plates from the 1945 E.B. Ford book.

[nomad]

The Aurelian Legacy [ 2000] British Butterflies and their collectors by M. Salmon, P. Marren, B. Harley and the Later ' The Aurelian's Fireside Companion ' An Entomological Anthology [ 2005 ] by Michael Salmon and Peter Edwards are both fascinating Entomological books. Here I give a brief account of the later volume.

The Aurelian's Fireside Companion is full of wonderful collecting stories involving many lepidoptera rarities including my favourite, a fascinating history of Lycaena dispar dispar with accounts of early Entomologists collecting this rare butterfly before its extinction in Britain. Very well written, full of amazing witty collecting stories in those halcyon days of the brotherhood of the net. This is just the book to cheer you up on a winter's evening or think of what fun was to be had in that bygone age. There is a brillant chapter called Traveller's Tales, Butterfly collecting overseas with full accounts of the chase in Dalmatia, Spain, the French Alps, Greece, the Pyrenees and other European countries. I am in awe of the research and details to be found in this book. I have met the authors at the A.E.S. Fair in October and they may have a table there this year. Michael Salmon I believe has a wonderful historic British Butterfly collection.






Pages and plates from the 2005 Aurelian's Fireside Companion.

[nomad]

Butterflies of Britain and Ireland [ 1991 and 2010 edition] Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington.
This is easily the best current book on the British butterflies with fascinating accounts of their life histories. Jeremy Thomas is one of Europe's most accomplished butterfly experts who has led research teams across Europe. He has spent a number of years trying to conserve the five species of threatened Maculinea [ Large Blue] species. Richard Lewington is one of the world's finest wildlife artists and has illustrated many British insects books. His paintings of British butterflies in this book are remarkable and beautiful. It is possible to meet Richard at his stand at the A.E.S event at Kempton Park in October





The Jeremy Thomas book with paintings by Richard Lewington.

[nomad]

The Natural History of Birdwing Butterflies by Hirotaka Matsuka is in my opinion is the finest book ever produced on the Birdwing Butterflies and one of the best ever lepidoptera works . The Author travelled throughout the Oriental and Australian regions photographing all the known Ornithoptera and Trodies species which meant some extraordinary adventures. Matsuka was an expert photographer and his superb images of many of the birdwings in flight bring them to life and shows us what fantastic creatures these butterflies really are. Matsuka went to some considerable effort to photograph the birdwings, even building a giant platform to photograph O. meridionalis and erecting a series of ladders up a forest giant to observe O. alexandrae feeding in the canopy. The dangers of travelling in this region are still sometimes all too real, after a long journey through the Arfak Mountains of New Guinea, Matsuka developed hepatitis and was hopitalized for 50 days while his guide due to the poor diet and the strain of the expedition, for a time became critically ill. The accounts of the Trodies are no less exciting and my favourite is Matsuka's visit to Buru in search of T. prattorum. All the eggs, larvae and Pupa have been superbly photographed often during the expeditions just to locate these. There is also a colour section of many of the Aristolochia and Pararistolochia foodplants. A colour guide shows specimens of all the species and subspecies together with their localities pinpointed on excellent maps. This obviously is Matsuka's great labour of love and a book he should be very proud of.

I should very much like to know more of Matsuka, if anybody knows any details or other works he has produced please let me know. Thank you
These are some of my favourite Entomological works that have thrilled and inspired me, of course their are many other books that I love dearly and I am sure the Japanese Delias book will become a firm favourite and a VERY useful reference work.
I am sure that all the members here would like to know your favourite works and why. This is a thread that everyone could join in, whatever insects you collect. Peter.





The superb Matsuka Birdwing book.

[lepidofrance]

I do agree : the Matsuka is actually among the finest books on Lepidoptera !

One I like is the Mariposas de Chiapas by Roberto G. de la Maza & Javier de la Maza, published in Mexico, 1993. According me, it's a very handsome book on the neotropical fauna (Chiapas, Mexico). Here are some pictures from the book :


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[lepidofrance]

Two books very well done and very useful (palearctic fauna) :

1. Pavel Gorbunov & Oleg Kosterin : The Butterflies (Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea) of North Asia (Asian part of Russia) in nature, Rodina & Fodio, MOscow, 2003, 2 vol.

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2. Sergej Toropov & Alexander Zhdanko : The Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of Dzhungar, Tien Shan, Alai and Eastern Pamirs, Bishkek, 2006, 2 vol.

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[nomad]

Some very useful and good reference works there Jean-Marc. I expect most of these books were very useful on your expeditions to these remote areas. . What is your favourite French book on Entomology?

[bobw]

To me there are two books that stand out as being head and shoulders above the rest. The first is E B Ford's Butterflies, as described in the first post in this thread. This book is important to most British collectors. It was the second book I ever possessed, after the Observer's Book of Butterflies, and certainly inspired me.

The second is A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies, Jan Haugum & Andrew Low (1978 - 1985). This was a superbly researched book that started the current craze for Ornithoptera, especially amongst the Japanese. Although Jan described the Ornithoptera volume as "my youthful folly", he was very proud of the Troides volume.

I also rather like Sergei Toropov and Alexander Zhdanko's series on the butterflies of Central Asia as mentioned by Jean-Marc. Whilst they are a bit thin on text, they contain the best photos of living specimens and habitats I've ever seen in a book. These photos evoke many memories from when I went on Sergei's early tours.

I'd also like to mention P B M Allan's books: A Moth Hunter's Gossip (1937), Talking of Moths (1943), Moths and Memories (1948) and Leaves from a Moth Hunter's Notebook (1980). These are superb anecdotal books which provide great entertainment.

Bob

[Deleted]

Oh that female autocrator, drooooooooooooool. Have to agree with Bob on the first 2, the first butterfly book I ever bought was the observers book of butterflies, this helped to spark a lifetime's interest, Fords book is without doubt one of the finest and most valuable butterfly books ever written, Thomas and Lewington's work, the original and the new book are fantastic and Richard South's book is still useful today. Robert Mays Aurelian is well worth a read too, especially for some of Moses Harris's accounts of species, some which are now extinct, especially entertaining is his account of collecting apparatus and methods. Michael Salmons work is a great read, putting faces to the names of long gone collectors and their input into the entomological world, accounts of rare, extinct and other species, also Paul Smarts book for the quality of the pictures, it has taken me years to acquire some of the more desirable species pictured in that book, shame on him, he has cost me a fortune.

[leptraps]

How about MONA, The Moths of America North of Mexico. I have all of the Fascicles currently published. The Heliothinae is due out this year (2013). Great plates and text. I am a Noctuid collector. Without these, I would be lost.

The link below is for the Wedge Foundation which is where it all began in 1971. If you order them through the Wedge Foundation, all the money is used to support this massive on going project: www.wedgefoundation.org/werforderform.pdf

Some of the fascicles may be out dated, however, they are a great starting point when working with moths. I use MONA in conjunction with Moth Photographers Group: mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/ to identify thousands of moths in my collection.

All fascicles beginning in 2012 are now Hardcover, Fascicle 29.2 was the first.
www.wedgefoundation.org/werforderform.pdf

[beetlehorn]

From reading this thread I can clearly see that there are some very fine books available, and I'll have to save up some money so I can make some additions to my library. I agree with Dunco in regards to Paul Smart's book, it is probably responsible for many, if not most butterfly collector's beginning phase of obsession with the hobby. At least to some degree. After years of owning a copy I still find myself browsing the color plates, and reading about the history of collecting. I especially enjoy reading about the adventures of A.R. Wallace, H.W. Bates or A.S. Meek. For collectors of North American butterflies, I would recommend The Butterflies of North America by James A. Scott. This book is more than a field guide as it goes into detail regarding the natural histories of American species. There are sections that treat collecting, dissection, egg and larvae identification, and there is some interesting reading in regards to the history of study in America.
I'll have to investigate the MONA Fascicles since I have found myself delving into blacklighting for moths here in Tennessee for the past five years. I too refer to the Mississippi State Moth Photographers Group for the many species I encounter here. It is a massive project which would probably require an encyclopedia sized text to include it's volume which is continually growing. In middle Tennessee just this year I have collected some 28 species of Catocala, 7 species of Schinia, and a handful of Heliothis, amongst dozens of other Noctuids, Arctiids, Sphingids and Pyralids. For a quick reference I usually resort to the Moths of Eastern North America by Charles V. Covell. It is packed full of useful information, and there are 64 specimen plates. The only drawback I could mention is that several plates are in black and white instead of color. The photos are however clear, so identification is rather easy. For the small size of this book, it is hard to beat in terms of information, and species coverage. My all time favorite for American Saturnidae is undoubtedly The Wild Silkmoths of North America by Tuskes, Tuttle and Collins. It is by far the most useful book on the subject of collecting, rearing, and natural history of the North American Saturnids. Too bad it is no longer in print.
Great thread! Tom

[Deleted]

There are also many fine books giving details and locations of both butterflies, moths and other insects in your local area, I would recommend searching out and obtaining one of them if you can find one, I have had great fun over the years searching out colonies of locally scarce species and even adding to the information by new discoveries.

[nomad]

Some very interesting information on the available Entomological books both past and present being posted in this thread which will help other collectors know what literature is out there. It would be nice and useful to hear other members choices.

Although the E.B. Ford book was the first butterfly book that I obtained from the library, the first butterfly book that I owned, like many young U.K. enthusiasts, was the Observer's Book of Butterflies , first published by Frederick Warne in 1938 with later editions. When out collecting in the field, this handy little book showing all the British species was always in one of my pockets, which what it was especially designed for. Among the many different Observer's books, a companion volume, The Larger Moths by R. E. L. Ford first appeared in 1954. I read both of these Observer's book so much, that I knew the text and plates showing the species off by heart, as the saying goes. Richard Ford worked with the great L. H. Newman on his butterfly farm at Bexley in Kent and took over the Natural History supplier, Watkins and Doncaster, which he turned into a very successful business. R. E. L. Ford was one of my boyhood hero's because before he retired, not only did he send me his eagerly awaited catalogue, full of wonderous things , in 1963 he wrote the book, Practical Entomology, a work which helped me enormously to form and prepare a collection. As my interest deepened the Observer books were soon joined on the shelf by those outstanding reference works by Richard South, Butterflies and the the two volume Moths of the British Isles .

The Paul Smart ' Encyclopedia of the butterfly World' first published in 1975, is without doubt a very great work which probably turned more U. K. collectors to seek out exotics, as many of the old school called them, than any other work. Packed full of information, it showed us around two thousand of the world's butterflies for the first time in glorious colour. I certainly never tire of looking at it and is one of my favourite books.

The Monograph of the Birdwing Buttterflies by Jan Haugham and Andrew Low, as Bob has already mentioned is another monumental reference work.



Pages and plates from Richard South's Moths of the British Isles. 1961 edition with reprints.




Pages and plates from the Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World by Paul Smart [ 1975]

[58chevy]

The book I started with was the Golden Guide to Insects by Herbert S. Zim, a yellow, pocket-size field guide published in the 1950s. It was just a simple introduction to common North American insects of all orders, but it was great for a kid starting out as an insect collector. I still have my original copy, although it's torn and tattered. Later came a similar book on butterflies and moths. I wish they had come out with one on beetles. My grandfather had a wonderful set of books called The Nature Library. It included The Butterfly Book and The Moth Book by Holland, published in 1903 I think. There was also a volume called Insects. I now have his complete set. It's very interesting to look through it and see how the taxonomy has changed. There are also collecting stories from places that are probably parking lots now. The best new books for North American moths are The Wild Silkmoths of North America by Tuttle, Tuskes and Collins, The Hawk Moths of North America by Tuttle, The Moths of Western North America by Powell an Opler, and Moths of Eastern North America by Covell. For butterflies, I like the Field Guide to Butterflies of North America by Brock and Kaufman. One of the best books on USA beetles (and one of the few with lots of photographs) is the Illustrated Key to the Longhorned Woodboring Beetles of the Eastern United States by Lingafelter.

[lepidofrance]

"What is your favourite French book on Entomology?"

By french entomologists, I like these books : Patrick Blandin on Morpho genus, Jean-Claude Weiss on Parnassinae, Attal on Perisama genus.

Regarding the European fauna (including french butterflies), I use mainly the Tolman & Lewington's book (in french). This is not truly a "french book" !