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1968
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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
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187
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RECORDS OF TWO SPECIES OF EXOTIC LEPIDOPTERA CAPTURED IN CALIFORNIA
Papilio demoleus L.
This widely distributed citrus-feeding species was represented in a student collection that was presented in partial fulfillment of a course at San Jose State College. The specimen was taken in the student's back yard. There seems to be no doubt of the authenticity of the capture. The labels read: "Palo Alto / Santa Clara Co. / Calif., 4.IV.64" and "Bryan Osborne / Collector." As nearly as can be ascertained this specimen belongs to the population found in Africa, rather than to the Indo-Australian race, but this is not easy to establish from a single specimen. The specimen is in the collection of J. W. Tilden.
Cehamidia vjridjs (Druce)
There are at hand four specimens of this syntomid moth, two of which, from the collections of the California Insect survey and determined by J. A. Powell, are quite surely this species. One bears the labels: "Berkeley, Cal. / May I960," "A. Berryman / collr.," and "Emerged late May '60 / Reared from / cocoon on Banana / from Safeway Mkt." The empty cocoon and pupal exuviae attached to a bit of banana peel are pinned below the specimen. The second specimen is labelled: "Auburn / Placer Co. / Calif. IX.7.60" and "J. Osgood / Collector." There is no label stating the source but the cocoon and exuviae are attached to a bit of banana peel below the specimen.
The other two specimens, in the collection of J. W. Tilden, do not seem to fit the description of C. viridis as well as the two preceding specimens, yet do not fit descriptions or illustrations of other species of Ceramidia, and are tentatively placed as C. viridis pending further information. One bears the labels: "Milpitas / Santa Clara Co., / Calif. 8.XI/65," and "In Kitchen / leg. R. Hennessey." The other bears labels reading: "Palo Alto / Santa Clara Co., / Calif. 27 Feb. 66," "From Cocoon on / Bunch of Bananas," and "R. B. Blake / Ace. No. 85."—J. W. Tilden, San Jose, California.
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Rook Notice
ANNOTATIONES RHOPALOCEROLOGICAE, by Charles F. Cowan, F.R.E.S. 20 pp. Privately printed. 29 Feb. 1968. Price, 12/6, paperbound.
Francis Hemming died before his monumental study "The Generic Names of Butterflies and their Type-species" was published. It was inevitable that under such conditions certain errors escaped correction. Col. Cowan has studied Hemming's volume with meticulous care and has brought to light a variety of errors. He also has been able to add all of the generic names published, but not included by Hemming, through 1964. The Addenda lists 10 additional names, including one that is proposed for an ill-founded one for an African taxon. The I.C.Z.N, rulings that affect generic names of butterflies are reviewed through the end of 1967. Cowan discovered and here corrects about 190 errors in the text of Hemming's work and its index. These corrections are supported by a series of numbered explanatory notes.
A valuable contribution of Cowan is the dating of two Felder papers published in 1861. One of these was presented in 1860 but not published for 14 months.
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188
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Opler: Book review
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Vol. 22, no. 3
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Cowan's discussion of the genera proposed in these papers is most informative and affects certain Neotropical names.
Four Nearctic genera are affected by publication or ruling not mentioned in Hemming's volume. These are Erynnides Burns, 1964, type-species Nisoniades propertius Scudder & Burgess, 1870; Lephelisca Barnes & Lindsey, 1922, invalid; Adopaeoides Godman, 1900, valid; Athanassa Scudder, 1875, type-species Melitaea texana Edwards, 1863.—F. M. Brown, Colorado Springs, Colo.
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BOOK REVIEW
WINGS IN THE MEADOW, by Jo Brewer; 187 pp. + xviii, illustrated by Henry B. Kane; 1967. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2 Park Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Cloth, $4.95.
Wings in the Meadow is the story of the annual sequence of events involving the monarch, Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus). The story begins with the arrival of "Danaus the mother" in a Massachusetts meadow belonging to Mr. Stevens, the main character of the book's subplot. The life of the story's hero, "Danaus the son-Danaus of the Golden Wings" begins on May 22nd as one of eleven eggs laid by Danaus the mother in Mr. Stevens' meadow. From this day the life of Danaus the son is followed until his death on an ocean beach on September 10th. Simultaneously, the passing of the season is followed in the meadow with Mr. Stevens becoming increasingly perceptive of the natural world on his doorstep. The last 25 pages of the text are a treatment of the final movement of Danaus' brethren and progeny to their winter refuge in the south.
The imaginative and faithful black and white illustrations of Mr. Kane occur at frequent intervals and nicely compliment the material treated in the text. A preface by John C. Downey, Carbondale, Illinois and a br ef glossary of technical terms directed to the lay reader supplement the text.
This book is a notably successful first attempt at populam:ed documentary natural history writing rather in the style of Rachel Carson. Wings in the Meadow was a challenge to its author to write. It will now be a pleasurable challenge to lepidopterists of all ages, as well as the layman, to read and assimilate. For this book's purpose will not be to be read once and forgotten, but to be the subject of repeated analytic readings. Mrs. Brewer was not content to present a mere travelogue of Danaus, but instead she has produced a book packed with concepts normally treated in advanced textbooks. Topics revolving around ecology, developmental physiology, behavior, and evolution have received considerable attention. Mrs. Brewer's field observations were combined with material from a number of respected reference works listed by her on pages 179 to 181. The author was able to adapt advanced ideas to a form which will be understandable to the enlightened lay reader and yet retain its impact.
Jo Brewer was particularly successful in her attempts to avoid vitalistic writing and to refuse the temptation to make anthropomorphic comparisons; however lapses occur in her descriptions of the behavioral actions of Danawi. For example on page 101 we find "He (Danaus) flew frantically back and forth trying to escape, but all his skills and wiles were of no use . . ." Mrs. Brewer's descriptions of facets of the story which deal with ecology, morphology, and physiology were most successful.
There is much of value in Wings in the Meadow for persons interested in any aspect of lepidopterology as Jo Brewer's ability to convey the essence of complex natural phenomena to her reader is remarkable.—Paul A. Opler, University of California, Berkeley, California.
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