Customer Reviews

Butterflies of Europe (Princeton Field Guides)

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This is the best field guide to European butterflies and not just by default. Although there is currently no other decent European field guide to butterflies, this has undoubtedly set the standard for many years to come.

All 440 species of Europe and North Africa are fully described and illustrated with male and females depicted and - where there is significant variation - subspecies.

The text itself is accurate, concise and oriented at the field observer. A monochrome thumbnail map accompanies the detailed range / distribution section. Under "Description", it is heartening to see comparative comments rather than a re-hashing of what can be seen on the plates - something that used to occur often in field guides. Habitat is described in great detail. Life history includes a list of larval food plants.

The 104 plates do not accompany the text, but are found together in the centre of the book. They are, of course, superb. Extremely lifelike, wonderfully helpful for identification and pleasing to the eye, they are everything we have come to expect from Richard Lewington's brush.

This is a "must have" for anyone travelling to Europe and no British naturalist will want to be without it either. In 1970, Higgins & Riley were the pioneers. This book is the worthy successor to that groundbreaking first guide, taking the art of identification to even higher levels.

This is probably the definitive field guide to European butterflies. Although it contains several tributes to L.G. Higgins, N.D. Riley and their classical field guide published in 1970, this work is *much* better. Finally Higgins-Riley can be laid to rest! Not one moment to soon, I'd say.

"Butterflies of Europe" covers the butterflies found in Europe (minus Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine), the Canary Islands, the Azores, Madeira, and the northernmost parts of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The Greek-controlled islands of the Eastern Aegean are also included. All in all, 440 species are described in the book. One of them is the well-known North American Monarch butterfly, since it has successfully established itself in some areas of southern Europe!

There are 140 color plates in the book, showing both male and female butterflies, and the most common subspecies and forms. The plates show the butterflies both in the usual "pinched" position, and in a more natural position, with the underside of the wings visible. (Larvae are not shown.) The plates and the text are not on facing pages, but since many butterflies are very similar to each other, it's probably necessary to place as many of them as possible side by side, to aid identification. The color plates must therefore be in a different section of the book than the text pages.

Unfortunately, not all species or subspecies are illustrated. Some, including several East Aegean species, are only mentioned in the text. I'm still waiting for the day when somebody publishes a field guide where *everything* is illustrated. That's the point of a field guide, right?

The text contain information on range, distribution (including mountain altitude), variation within the species, flight-period, habitat and behaviour, and larvae host plants. Where the species have been recorded as a rare migrant is also mentioned. There are range maps for every species. Both the Latin and vernacular names are given. There is also a glossary of scientific terms at the end of the book.

The only possible negative with this book is that the approximate ranges of the various butterflies aren't mentioned on the color plates, which could lead to some confusion if a rare species from, say, Africa is somewhat similar to a more common species from, say, Central Europe. Otherwise, I believe that Tom Tolman and his illustrator Richard Lewington have out-done themselves. Exit Higgins & Riley, LOL.

Wonderful field guide. The only thing I would have liked better is a species description and range map on the same page as the plate. However, the description and information given on each species is thorough for a field guide.