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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 35(4), 1981, 331
BOOK REVIEWS
The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 9, Sphin-gidae-Noctuidae (Part 1), edited by John Heath, A. Maitland Emmet, et al., 1979. Cur-wen Books, North Street, Plaistow, London E13 9HJ, England. 288 pp., 16 plates. £25.00.
This 20 x 25 cm volume is the second to be published in a projected series of 11, of which the last will be devoted to larvae. Volume 1, containing the introduction and section on primitive microlepidoptera, with four colored and nine monochrome plates, appeared in 1976. Volume 9 has eight contributing authors and covers the Sphingidae (W. L. R. E. Gilchrist), Notodontidae, Lymantriidae, Arctiidae (C. G. M. de Worms), Thaumetopoeidae, Ctenuchidae (J. Heath), Nolidae (R. J. Revell), and the first two subfamilies (Noctuinae and Hadeninae) of the Noctuidae (R. F. Bretherton, B. Goater, & R. I. Lorimer). It begins with an illustrated, 8-page chapter on eversible structures by M. C. Birch. Treatment of each species generally follows the sequence of scientific name, common name, synonymy, type-locality, description of imago, similar species, life history, distribution (with map), and with sections on occurrence and distribution or economic importance sometimes added. A special effort seems to have been made to include all significant food-plant information. The fine distribution maps for almost every species will have particular appeal to British lepidopterists.
It is difficult to avoid making comparisons between this work and its North American counterpart, The Moths of America North of Mexico. Both are products of the Curwen Press, are written by various specialist authors, and they fulfill comparable roles, i.e., to provide comprehensive, authoritative, faunal reference works for their respective regions, with keys where appropriate and every species illustrated in color. The British work is illustrated mainly with colored drawings by Brian Hargreaves, rather than by photography. It of course deals with a much smaller fauna, and its information content is in some ways less comprehensive. For example, some synonymic names are listed, with references, but synonymies are not complete, especially for genera. Type-localities are given only for the species or subspecies names accepted as having priority, not for junior synonyms. Structural features, such as genitalia and wing venation, are illustrated sparingly, but on the other hand the book does have three introductory colored plates (38 photographs) of live moths and larvae. In order to cover an inadequately known fauna, the American series must present results of new research, including original descriptions, revised classifications, and synonymies in the unabbreviated style of taxonomic revisions, while trying to appeal to both amateur and professional. Distribution maps have been omitted. The British series does not have to depend heavily on original research, because that fauna is relatively well known.
The brief generic treatments by the different authors of the British work are uneven, as mentioned in the editors' preface, and major diagnostic group characters are often not mentioned. Although the book begins with a special section on eversible structures (scent organs), this refers to adults only. Neither here nor on turning to the part on Lymantriidae did I find any mention of the dorsal abdominal glands by which lyman-triid larvae are most easily recognized. The 13 plates of adult moths at the end of the book are quite good and better than those of Volume 1, but some plates seem to be deficient in red. Also, the wing patterns have a somewhat sketchy, harshly contrasting quality that is not typical of Hargreaves' work. I do not understand the reason for this. The plates of Volume 1, if anything, are low in contrast, and perhaps it was to correct this that the printer switched to a heavier, smoother paper for Volume 9.
This series is particularly well designed for the well-informed, non-professional audience, namely Britain's large population of amateur entomologists and naturalists, but it will undoubtedly serve as the standard reference work on British Lepidoptera for amateurs and professionals alike, in Britain and around the world, offering an alternative to Richard South's The Moths of the British Isles, which has been in general use for about 70 years. The editors and authors of this publication venture are to be congratulated.
DOUGLAS C. Ferguson, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, % U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. 20560.