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Volume 40, Number 3
241
The publisher's advertisement on the book-jacket states that Mr. Goater had to be persuaded to write this book. Whoever did the persuading deserves our thanks and congratulations.
Bryan P. Beirne, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 40(3), 1986, 241
Nordeuropas Pyralider, Danmarks Dyreliv. Bind 3, by Eivind Palm. Fauna B0ger, K0benhavn, Denmark, 287 pp., including 8 color plates, 264 black and white figures, and distribution maps of 219 species, 1986. Distributed (as well as volumes 1 and 2 of the series) by Apollo Books, Lundbyvej 36, DK-5700 Svendborg, Denmark. Price: Danish Kroner 400.00 4- postage (15% discount for subscribers to the series).
This useful Danish-language book invites comparison with the almost simultaneously published British Pyralid Moths, by Barry Goater. Palm's book deals with a larger fauna—219 species actually recorded from Fennoscandia and immediately adjacent parts of the Netherlands, North Germany and Poland, with brief notes on some 50 more species that might be expected, compared with 209 species, including accidentals and greenhouse pests, on the British list. However, several species on the British list are not represented in the present treatment. On the whole the treatment of species is more extensive in this book than in Goater s; the distributional information is more detailed and is supplemented by dot maps of distribution in the region and more detailed maps of the distribution in Denmark of species that occur there. For anglophone readers there is a "Summary" paragraph for each Danish species, in which geographical distribution in Denmark, habitat, and times and months of flight are briefly stated. Though this courtesy will be appreciated, one wonders why a similar summary was not given for the non-Danish species as well. The numerous black and white figures of genital and other structures and of wing patterns will be useful in distinguishing close species. The color plates are clear, neat, and satisfactory for recognition, but have not achieved the brilliance of those in Goater's book. Palm has picked up some late species synonymy that was missed by Goater, but otherwise the two classifications are extremely close, a fact that will be a blessing for European lepidopterists. Nordeuropas Pyralider is convenient in size and attractively produced. It has few blemishes, but there is some typographical confusion on line 2 of the captions for Figs. 205-210.
Language and geography will in large part determine the readership of these two books, but the specialist in Pyralidae and the general student of North European moths ought to have both. As a reference for purchase by libraries, museums and universities, Nordens Pyralider can be recommended heartily.
Eugene Munroe, Honorary Research Associate, Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que. H9X 1C0, Canada.