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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 46(2), 1992, 166
Die Raupen der Schmetterlinge Europas, by Prof. Dr. Arnold Spuler (Zweite Au-flage von Dr. E. Hofmanns Gleichnamigem Werke). Erlangen, Weihnachten 1904. Reprint edition 1989, Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark. In German. 38 pp. "introduction" and appendix; 60 color plates, 2000+ figures. Hard cover, 21 x 29 cm, ISBN 87-88757-12-9, Danish Kroner 780 (about $125 U.S.).
The title indicates that this is a book about the caterpillars of European butterflies, but 6.5 plates are butterfly immatures, 42.5 plates are moth immatures, 1 plate is eggs, and 9.5 of the 10 addendum plates are moth larvae.
The book appears to be an exact reprint of the 1904 edition (but I have not compared it with the original). As a consequence, the text is vintage 1904, and has limited value (especially if one is not fluent in German). The "introduction" of 26 pages is the entire text and covers a diversity of topics, including a general review on insects, a similar, but more detailed review for Lepidoptera, including details on eggs, larvae and pupae, ranging from structure to biology, behavior, and life cycles. Useful and harmful larvae are listed, examples of natural enemies are given, diseases are discussed, and culturing techniques are described. Other techniques are also provided, including killing adults by chloroform, cyanide, tobacco juice or smoke, and how to anesthetize and inflate larvae. The eleven-page "appendix" contains indices to common names and scientific names of plants, and an index to the Lepidoptera species associated with them. The genera of the insects are not indexed, so, for example, one cannot easily look up which species of Malacosoma are covered. The extensive use of German common names is also a drawback unless one is very familiar with the language.
However, the book's primary value is in the beautiful color illustrations, not the text, and it is certainly more useful for Europeans than North Americans, unless one wants to gaze upon a cabbage butterfly larva or a gypsy moth larva and a few others. The plates are nicely laid out as is characteristic of many of the old Lepidoptera books, with the caterpillars resting on vegetation in more or less natural positions, and with many flowers included. I judge most of the larvae to be last instars, and, as a general rule, the larger and more distinctive the larva is, the easier it will be to identify it using the illustrations. However, the gypsy moth larva is rather poorly done, and it would be easy to overlook it in making comparisons. The smaller illustrations cannot show much detail, and the best they can do is give an overall impression of the color and of any patterns or distinctive structures that are readily apparent. The illustrations are generally grouped by families, but families are not given anywhere, making the book less useful to those who are not very knowledgeable. The nomenclature is obviously outdated, but can't be corrected in a strict reprint edition. The paper, printing, color reproduction, and binding appear to be excellent. I don't know what the original 1904 edition sells for on the used/rare book market, but the $125 price of this reprint will probably deter all except those who are lovers of old color plates (and a reprint is not quite the same as an original).
In summary, the book is a nice reproduction of an old caterpillar plate book that some may find enjoyable and useful.
Frederick W. Stehr, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1115. [The assistance of Renate Snider in accurately reading the German is gratefully acknowledged.]
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 46(2), 1992, 166-167
A Revision of the Indo-Australian Genus Attacus, by Richard S. Peigler. 1989. Lepidoptera Research Foundation, 9620 Heather Road, Beverly Hills, California 90210. xi + 167 pp., 24 text figs., 4 color plates. Soft cover, 20 x 28 cm, ISBN 9611464-2-7, $30.00.
Peigler has done an outstanding piece of work in revising the "well known" moths of the genus Attacus. The members are among the largest of moths, and are arguably the
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most widely recognized insects in the world. They occur from northern India and southern China to northern Australia. As a result of the interest in them, a considerable number of papers and descriptions have been published, usually without much prior knowledge of what was already in the literature. The result has been chaos. Now it is possible to go to one publication and learn to distinguish the 14 included species, to obtain the correct names for them, and to find out the status of all the other names that have been proposed. These total 50 (the emendations of which balloon the total to over 100!) for the species now included in Attacus. Plus anything and everything that pertains to these moths.
All of this is accomplished in a handsome, soft cover book, printed on glossy paper with wide margins; typographical errors are almost non-existent. The book is well organized and easy to use. In addition to the introduction, literature review, materials and methods, there are sections on morphology (egg, larva, pupa, and adult), systematics, biology and ecology, relationships of genera within the Attacini, zoogeography, phylogeny and speciation, and conclusions. There are over 10 pages of literature citations, an extremely valuable section of the book. The two appendices list recorded foodplants of Attacus and zoogeographical names, providing valuable help for an area in which so many name changes have taken place.
The illustrations are grouped in the back of the book. The black and white figures include distribution maps, morphology (larva, pupa, adult, venation), male and female genitalia, and cladograms. The four color plates show 3 caterpillars and 33 adults; the latter are reduced and of the right side only, due to the large size of these moths. The colors are quite good. All 14 species are shown, with type material of half of them being illustrated.
This is one of the best re visionary works on Lepidoptera to have been published; it sets a model for others to follow. I strongly recommend this revision to anyone who has any interest in these very large and showy moths, or in seeing a first-rate revisionary study. For me, it was well worth the cost of the book to have all the nomenclature cleared up, with just the species names themselves being utilized.
Frederick H. Rindge, Department of Entomology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 46(2), 1992, 167-168
A Revision of the Indo-Australian Genus Attacus, by Richard S. Peigler. 1989. Lepidoptera Research Foundation, 9620 Heather Road, Beverly Hills, California 90210. xi + 167 pp., 24 text figs., 4 color plates. Soft cover, 20 x 28 cm, ISBN-9611464-2-7, $30.00.
Peigler revises this genus of tropical saturniine saturniid moths as thoroughly as is humanly possible with museum specimens and old literature. He then comes to us on bended knee and apologizes for doing this for a land he has never set foot in! As I read through this magnificent effort, I put on my "living in a developing tropical country hat" and asked "What would I have wanted Peigler to do with Attacus?" Would I have wanted him to spend years raising money to tourist around southeast Asia collecting an Attacus here and there, and soaking up the humidity and color of Attacus habitats? No.
Without doubt I would have wanted him to do exactly what he did. Peigler has taken one of the most conspicuous and tractable insects of southeast Asia, and cleaned the last two centuries of garbage and debris off the framework. As I turn page after page of Peigler's detailed and painstaking analysis of bad taxonomy, bad literature, printer's errors, bad biology, rare books, fractured journals, and bad specimens, and all the last century of taxonomic exploration by mediocre biologists and taxonominists in three European languages, I thank God for the Richard Peiglers of the world.
Can you imagine what hell it would have been for a Javanese biologist to have to spend four years of his life trying to sort out this mess before going to work on these fascinating