Book Description

Mindful of Butterflies is a butterfly book with a difference, combining a natural history of the butterfly, its lifecycle and preservation with a detailed guide on creating an ecological niche for these creatures in your own garden. The guide is applicable to either North America or the UK. Written by Bernard Jackson, former curator of the Newfoundland Botanic Garden, it aims to get us to encourage some of our most endangered and beautiful butterflies to return to our backyards.

Complemented by exquisite illustrations by award-winning botanical British artist Valerie Baines (twice awarded the Silver Gilt Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A great identification and locator guide.
The late Dr. Woodbury has accumplished what few other butterfly authors have been able to do with his The Butterflies of Delmarva which is to write about an arcane subject such as the Lepidopterous creatures around us and make it understandable to the casual nature lover as well as the experienced pro. He achieves this difficult task by illustrating the living butterflies with beautiful and informative color photos. Each photo clearly shows identifying characteristics of almost every one of the resident and stray butterflies inhabiting or visiting the Delmarva penninsula. This makes field observations and identifications surprisingly easy. For example, after studying Dr. Woodbury's excellent photo of Papilio polyxenes asterius (The Black Swallowtail) and comparing it with the fine one of Papilio troilus (The Spicebush Swallowtail) I am sure that even the beginner will find he or she can quickly tell one from the other when faced with identifying that next big black butterfly flittering and fluttering in the meadow. This little gem of a book would be worth the money for the photos alone, but there is much more offered here as well. Dr. Woodbury accurately and concisely describes the actual locality where each of the individual species occurs as well as the hostplants where the caterpillars of each species may be found and the nectaring plants for the adults as well! Had Dr. Woodbury included the Superfamily Hesperioidea (the Skippers)of Delmarva, I would have gladly afixed the fifth star in my review.

What a disapointment!
When I ran across this book in a store one day, I quickly bought it. What a disappointment. Mr. Woodbury's photographs are excellent, and can be seen in a number of field guides, but the information accompanying this book is useless. For example, Mr. Woodbury lists the Regal Fritillary, shows a photo, and gives a range description without once mentioning that this butterfly has not been recorded from the eastern United States for many years, outside a few local populations. One is left with the impression that this is a butterfly that may be seen commonly. It appears that the text of this book was quickly thrown together to get it into print. Recommended for the photos only ... Read more

Book Description

This collection of more than 1,000 individual specimens looks at the world's most common butterflies, all of which are covered in detail, including taxonomy, structure, life cycle, and migration. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

the review of a lifetime
Well this book was quite interesting, but in my opinion it could of had more facts about each and every butterfly. ... Read more

Book Description

All in color! Create a miniature tropical rainforest--with passion flowers, banana plants, and other magnificent exotics--in your greenhouse or conservatory, and make a home for the most colorful, unique butterflies in the world! Monarchs, Asian swallowtails, and a host of South American species will thrive in this habitat, including some that have become rare in their natural environments. Play a vital role in their conservation, caring for these delicate creatures in every stage of their lifecycle. Set up the right ecosystem (heating, light, water, and plants) for their "paradise"; understand feeding, breeding, and courtship rituals; care for young ones; move and house larvae; and prevent health problems. A guide to butterflies helps you select the right ones, and full-color photographs throughout show what wonders await you! Trim size: 7 1/4 x 9 3/4. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A book for all naturalists
The most perfect book about butterflies in a specific region ever made! Itcontains the latest information about all butterflies in Canada and it iswell illustrated with 32 great colour plates covering all species (Ithink). This is the only book you need about butterflies in Canada. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Much information in a small package at an excellent price
This small book contains a surprising amount of informative material for both the amateur and professional entomologist. It lists the common and scientific names for 240 species of British and European moths and butterflies along with an excellent photograph showing the species in a natural setting. Some of these photographs are particularly good in that they illustrate the insect in its defensive warning colouration or as camouflaged against its background. Included with each species is a brief but detailed description of the species size, distribution, flight times, hibernation stage and caterpillar food plants. It's rare to get this much information so concisely and conveniently organized even in more academically scientific books. Anyone who is seriously interested in moths and butterflies would do well by buying this well-priced and excellent guide. ... Read more

Book Description

Butterflies are found everywhere in British Columbia, from balcony planter boxes in the city to the vast, unexplored expanses of boreal forest and mountains across the north, and from coastal bogs and wild ocean shorelines to the deserts of the southern interior. The total known fauna of 187 species of butterflies in B.C. is by far the largest and most diverse in Canada.

Butterflies of British Columbia summarizes all available information on the butterflies of B.C. The 187 species and 264 subspecies of butterflies known from B.C., as well as 9 additional hypothetical species, are discussed with descriptions of identifying features, immature stages, larval foodplants, biology and life history, range and habitat, and conservation status. In addition, descriptions are provided for 11 new subspecies. Each species treatment also contains maps of the northwestern North American distribution, colour photographs of adults of all species and subspecies, and flight season graphs.

The book includes an extensive general introduction to the study of butterflies, containing chapters on the history of butterfly study in B.C., the post-glacial colonization of B.C. by butterflies, the effects of European colonization on the fauna, butterfly conservation, butterfly gardening, ecology, morphology, and biology.

Butterflies of British Columbia provides butterfly watchers, naturalists, and biologists with an overview of the fascinating butterfly fauna of B.C. and adjacent areas. It can be used by naturalists to identify all the butterfly species and subspecies in B.C. and adjacent areas and includes a wide range of information about both butterflies in general and individual species. There is also much original information in the book that scientists will find invaluable, especially the description of 11 new subspecies and a complete reassessment of the taxonomy of the species. ... Read more

Book Description

Hong Kong has a marvelously rich and diverse butterfly fauna, all contained within a relatively small area which can be seen and enjoyed within a few days outing from the central city area. An important part of the southern Chinese region, it is home to a significant proportion of the butterfly species of that part of the world. Two-hundred nineteen butterfly species in five families and 17 subfamilies have been recorded and all are described in this encyclopedic reference. A complete and up-to-date handbook on the identification, systematics, biology and ecology of the butterflies found in Hong Kong, this authoritative book includes keys, full color plates and line drawings identifying males and females, as well as eggs and papae. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the study of live animals, rather than collecting for its own sake. The authors are strong advocates for developing our understanding of butterflies in the field and the growth of our knowledge of their biology, ecology, and conservation.

Key Features:

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Complete and up-to-date handbook of Hong Kong's 219 butterfly species
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Covers identification, systematics, biology and ecology
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Includes color plates and line drawings identifying males and females, as well as eggs and papae

Reviews (2)

Marvellous book
The most comprehensive, informative and wonderful book about butterflies of Hong Kong I have ever seen. It covers all the details you would like to know about Hong Kong butterflies. I recommend this book to those who like to explore the nature.

An outstanding production and contribution
Although this is an expensive book, it simply is the best and most definitive work on butterflies of the region. The standard of presentation is excellent. Descriptions are clear and very informative, with plenty of in text illustrations showing identification characters allowing similar species to be identified - particularly useful for the Hesperiidae. Many species are give full ecological write ups, some reared for the first time. Also included in the core text are photographs of many species taken "in the field" (mostly of good to excellent quality). Short chapters also outline Hong Kong's natural environment. The plates (in two sections: adults and immature stages) are absolutely top quality and show dorsal and ventral wing surfaces, male, female and seasonal forms at life size; the immature plates comprise photos of each stage, where known. A few negatives - local distribution data is already out of date and must be regarded as historical (a sad reflection of Hong Kong's general apathy to its natural resources); the list of contacts is also out of date!

Thoroughly recommended (I'm still saving up for my copy!), a wonderful addition to any butterfly bibliophile's portfolio and a must buy option for anyone interested in the butterflies of South-east and East Asia. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Although it has pained some professionals to admit it, gifted amateurs have done much to advance the cause of science. Perhaps nowhere is this more true, English physician Michael Salmon writes, than in the field of lepidopterology.

The figure of the eccentric butterfly collector is a staple of British comedy, and indeed, as Salmon shows, many early collectors offered easy targets as the very definition of eccentricity. Over the years, more and more ordinary men and women came to share their passion for nature study, so that, by Victorian times, households throughout Britain "boasted a cabinet of shells, butterflies, or fossils, together with a series of George Routledge's shilling volumes on natural history, or a book of newspaper cuttings from the weekly 'nature' column." By the late 19th century, the fields and woods were crowded with collectors, so many that the numbers of butterfly species like the Large Blue, Black-veined White, and Large Tortoiseshell were considerably thinned. (They and many other species are now extinct or nearly so, Salmon writes, though not through the fault of collectors.) Some collectors were indeed mere hobbyists, but field notes and reports by amateurs formed an essential record for more formal scientific descriptions of range, behavior, and other aspects of lepidopteran natural history.

In a series of essays, Salmon offers a history of butterfly collecting in Britain, describes some 35 species of particular historical or biological interest (including the wayward North American monarch and the remarkable Camberwell Beauty, "the Holy Grail of British butterfly collectors"), and profiles more than a hundred prominent "Aurelians," or butterfly collectors, from 1550 to the present. His handsomely illustrated book, brimming with lore and trivia on such matters as the first recorded use of the butterfly net and the origin of butterfly names in English, makes lively reading--and an ideal gift--for Aurelians today. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Book Description

The Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) are one of the largest groups of insects with over 150,000 known species. This is the first single-volume reference work on the biology and systematics of these fascinating creatures. Part I reviews the main body parts with discussion of their function and importance in the life of the organisms.Other chapters cover feeding, flight, migration, hearing, defense, sound production, and many other aspects of lepidopteran life. The environmental significance of Lepidoptera, summarized in Part II, is discussed in terms of larvae and caterpillars as herbivores and prey for birds, mammals, and other insects. Part III is a global overview describing biology, classification, and evolutionary relationships within and between lepidopteran groups.This book will be an indispensable resource for naturalists, professional entomologists, and conservationists for years to come. ... Read more

Book Description

Lookalikes and commonly confusable species are also illustratedCalendar bars indicate when you can expect to see the species as an egg, caterpillar, pupa or fully grown butterfly.Main illustrations show the butterfly as it is most likely to be seenKey features, habitat and life-history if the main species are described in detail ... Read more