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Riott: Book review
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Vol.18: no.2
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REVIEW
WIR BESTIMMEN SCHMETTERLINGE. PART II, BAEREN, SPINNER, SCHWAERMER UND BOHRER DEUTSCHLANDS (unter Ausschluss der Alpengebiete). By Manfred Koch. 148 pp., 24 col.pls. 1955. PART III, EULEN DEUTSCHLANDS (unter Ausschluss der Alpengebiete). By Manfred Koch. 291 pp., 24 col.pls. 1958. PART IV, SPANNER DEUTSCHLANDS (unter Ausschluss der Alpengebiete). By Manfred Koch (Sachbearbeiter der Eupithecien Eduard Schuetze, Kassel-Wilhelmshoehe). 263 pp., 20 col.pls. 1961. Publisher — Neumann Verlag, Radebeul & Berlin, Germany.
In volume 11 on p. 62, of this Journal, vol. I of Koch's Wir bestimmen Schmetterlinge was reviewed. In the meantime vols. II - IV, dealing with the bombycine moths, noctuids and geometrids respectively, have appeared. All the latest volumes are of the same high standard as was the first one with regard both to the text, which can be easily looked over at one glance, arranged in columns for locality, time of appearance of the caterpillar, flight period, foodplant of the caterpillar, frequency, remarks and typical characters, and to the natural color plates with pictures of all species concerned and most of their caterpillars. The arrangement of the pictures in a continuous way again gives an excellent account of relations among species, a fact which was already praised in the review of the first volume.
Besides the descriptive text, each volume provides a section with most valuable hints for the practical entomologist (part II: injurious Lepidoptera; rearing of bombycine moths; part III: collecting with the help of different light sources; part IV: collecting when travelling; migratory lepidoptera; genitalic dissection techniques).
The only thing one would have preferred to see changed is the unfortunate inclusion of some "micro" families, e. g. the Zygaenidae and Aegeriidae, in the bombycine moths (vol.11), where they positively have no place. But the same misplaced arrangement is found also in other European works of recent date, a sad tribute to the taste of the amateur collector over there. As the author points out himself, the somehow outdated nomenclatorial system has to be understood under the same aspect. Neither of the two objections, however, would considerably decrease the eminent value of the books for the student of Lepidoptera on this continent also, when taking into consideration their utmost practicality for getting quick information.
J. C. E. Riotte, Royal Ontario Museum, Univ. of Toronto, Ont., CANADA
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