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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
species by scientific name, and a short Bibliography. The only mistake that I noticed among the few sections printed in Latin letters is the incorrect spelling of W. H. Howe's surname (as "How") in the bibliography.
The most impressive aspect of this book is the quality and number of color plates. Each two-page color plate consists of at least one full page of pictured specimens on the right page. The facing page contains at least one full map of Japan showing in colored outlines the distribution of each butterfly species and subspecies treated on that page. Detailed discussions of each species' and subspecies' distribution, biology, foodplants, and variations, and a separate color plate that shows rare or stray species with additional variations of the species pictured on the adjacent page, are provided in almost all plates. This smaller "color plate within the color plate" is also frequently used to explain and illustrate in more detail differences between similar species. The plates are separated by family, and then by genus. A dichotomous key to the species in each genus is provided at the beginning of each generic treatment, and is always highlighted in boxes with a pastel colored background for immediate visual access. Additional tawny colored boxes provide more detailed information on several species, such as their taxonomic history or seasonal variation. Citations of taxonomic revisions are often given in the tawny boxes. Species names are written in both Japanese characters and Latin letters. Colored blocks on the edge of each plate, which can be seen even when the book is closed, show the location of each family within the plates.
The color plates are the finest I have ever seen in a book on butterflies. They are equal to or better than the plates in the MONA series. Every specimen shown is in fresh condition, except for two stray specimens with small imperfections. Full specimens are usually shown, and wing borders are cut off at the edges of plates only on larger specimens. Each color plate contains 7 to 32 specimens, shown against a light gray-blue background. Shadows are very slight and never draw attention away from the butterflies. Even white Pierids are excellently illustrated, which is very difficult in plates photographed against pale backgrounds. The completeness of the color plates is impressive. For example, 28 specimens of Lycaeides subsolanus Eversmann are illustrated on page 111, showing every slight variation on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces. The comprehensiveness of the color plates is indicated by the fact that 1967 specimens are pictured, and only 256 species of butterflies are known from Japan! The quality of the plates is eloquent testimony to the expertise of the Japanese in color printing, and the overall design of the book is superlative!
Inomata is to be congratulated on the impressive thoroughness and beauty of his book, which must be seen to be fully appreciated. Although written in Japanese, at a fairly technical level, the value of this book even to lepidopterists who are not fluent in Japanese cannot be understated. Even if you have little interest in the butterflies of Japan, this book is well worth $39.00, just for the color plates. I recommend this book to any person with interest in Palaearctic or Holoarctic butterfly fauna.
Andrew D. Warren, Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853. [The assistance of Toko Morimoto in accurately reading the Japanese is gratefully acknowledged, and the comments on this review provided by Robert Dirig are sincerely appreciated.]
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 47(4), 1993, 340-341
Florissant Butterflies: A Guide to the Fossil and Present-Day Species of Central Colorado, by Thomas C. Emmel, Marc C. Minno, and Boyce A. Drummond. 1992. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 94305. Hardcover (ISBN 0-8047-1938-1), $35.00; Softcover (ISBN 0-8047-2018-5) $14.95; 21 x 28.5 cm, 148 pp., 9 color plates, 58 halftones, 1 map.
Volume 47, Number 4
341
This small book is a unique mixture of information about the fossil butterflies and present-day butterfly fauna of the Florissant Valley region of central Colorado. The authors report on the status of fossil butterflies and the results of a sporadic long-term survey of the region's living butterflies.
The book is basically an annotated, illustrated list of the fossil butterflies and the living butterflies of the Florissant Valley. The Florissant Fossil Beds is one of the most important fossil insect deposits in the world, but the living butterfly fauna is relatively poor in comparison to other areas of Colorado.
The discussion of the fossil butterflies is brief and might better have appeared as an appendix. Its value is that all Florissant fossil butterflies are illustrated and discussed in the same place. For the first time in any butterfly book, the butterfly fossils are assigned common names and are also listed in a separate checklist.
There are 19 pages of introductory material that describe the ecology of the Florissant area and give background information on habitats, behavior, reproduction, and other aspects of the region's butterflies. There is a list of pertinent references and a glossary at the end of the text.
The bulk of the book is comprised of species accounts of the butterflies now known from the Florissant Valley. There are numerous excellent black and white photographs scattered through the text (it's a pity that they couldn't have been in color) and nine excellent color plates of specimens and a few photos of living butterflies. The illustrations seem to be properly identified in almost all cases, but a specimen of Phyciodes tharos is identified as Phyciodes pallidus, a butterfly that apparently does not occur in the study area. To clarify "tharos-group" relationships in the book, the butterfly referred to as Phyciodes tharos pascoensis should be more properly referred to as Phyciodes selenis, as it is not consistent to have two subspecies of the same species occupying the same small area.
I would have liked more detail on the occurrence of the butterflies in the study area, and a comparison between the Florissant butterfly fauna and that of a few other well-studied Colorado areas along the Colorado Front Range.
I recommend this book as an addition to the library of any lepidopterist interested in the Rocky Mountain butterfly fauna. The prospective reader will find it to contain excellent background material for the Colorado fauna. Even though the book covers only a small geographic area, it will be useful for most montane habitats along the Colorado Front Range. Any lepidopterist who has taken or plans to take field courses about butterfly biology at the Nature Place in Florissant will find it invaluable.
Paul A. Opler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Information Transfer, 1201 Oak Ridge Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525-5589.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 47(4), 1993, 341-342
Butterflies of the Bulolo-Wau Valley, by Michael Parsons. 1992. Wau Ecology Institute Handbook No. 12. Bishop Museum Press, P.O. Box 19000-A, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817. 280 pp., 23 text figs., 22 color + 3 b/w plates. Softcover, 12.5 x 23 cm, ISBN 0-930897-61-7. $34.95 (+ $2.00 p&h).
In the 1980's Michael Parsons was the butterfly ecologist working for the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Insect Farming and Trading Agency (IFTA). His enthusiasm and commitment helped to establish an ideal and successful integration of the utilization and conservation of the butterfly resource in PNG with studies of the taxonomy, distribution, behavior and ecology of Papuan butterflies. The need for IFTA to develop butterfly farming (technically "ranching"!) in out-of-the-way areas of the country provided opportunities to investigate the faunas of remote parts of PNG. The collecting of butterflies