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1960
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
24-3
BUTTERFLIES OF FORMOSA IN COLOUR. By Takashi Shirozu [In Japanese]. [8] + 482 + [2] pp., 76 coloured pis., 479 text figs. Publisher: Hoikusha Publishing Co., Ltd., 20, 1-chome, Uehonmachi, Higashiku, Osaka, Japan. [Available from E. W. Classey, 4 Church St., Isleworth, Mid-dx., England: price $13.30].
This sumptuous work, unfortunately for us, is mostly in Japanese with the exception of the scientific names and morphological terms which are in Latin. These terms define the parts of the genitalia and are followed by valuable bibliographical references. The genitalia are figured under most of the species. There are also short tables under tribes separating the species by their genitalia. When necessary there are drawings also of the venation, scales, legs, etc. of the insects. Outline maps are provided showing the distribution of all butterflies other than those having a world-wide distribution. The beautiful coloured plates upon which the upper and under sides of both sexes are figured are as fine, if not finer, than anything that has heretofore been seen. A few names are proposed, in which the descriptions are in English (pp. 37 foot note, 128, 378, 381, 448). The immature stages of the insects are not shown.
The main text is followed by ia synonymic list of Formosan butterflies and it is gratifying to note that each scientific name is followed not only by the author's name but also by the date of publication. In many cases there are both generic and specific synonymies. The nomenclature appears to be up to date and to follow the Regies. The book concludes with an index of generic and specific, but not family names. Since all pages and plates are numbered in Arabic the work is easy for the student to use.
The distribution map (fig.34) for Papilio machaon L. shows the range of the insect in Asia but in North America only in southwestern Alaska and the Hudson Bay region. In fact this butterfly has a much larger distribution in North America and is found in suitable localities over the intervening territory. Three recognizable subspecies have been named from this area, but this oversight is a small matter of slight importance to Oriental students for whom the book is primarily intended.
All in all this is not only a beautiful work which many will enjoy because of the excellent plates and figures, but it is also a very scholarly one showing the great industry and wide knowledge of its author. He is a professor in the Biological Laboratory of Kyushu University and well known to American students as an ardent lepidopterist.
While more elaborate than its predecessors, Coloured butterflies from Korea by Tamezo Mori, Hironobu Doi and Pok Seong Cho (1934), [Butterflies of Saghalien] by M. Hori and K. Tamanuki (1937), and Coloured illustrations of the butter-flies of Japan (revised by Teiso Esaki) by Mitsou Yokoyama (1955) the four together give one an excellent understanding of the beautiful butterflies that are to be found in these interesting lands. All four should be in lepidopterists' libraries. To an extent they supplant the classical three-volume work of the previous century by John Henry Leech on Butterflies from China, Japan, and Corea (1892-4).
C. F. dos Passos, Washington Corners, Mendham, N. J., U. S. A.