Customer Reviews

Moth Catcher: An Evolutionist'S Journey Through Canyon And Pass

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It provides some great information about the distribution of the various silkworm moth species and how some of them have evolved in recent history, and how some of these events came to pass naturally.

Told with the narrative fluidity of a memoir, Moth Catcher: An Evolutionist's Journey Through Canyon and Pass is an amazing look into the scientific research of author Michael M. Collins. Moth Catcher introduces the reader to a fascinating canyon and pass environment in Sierra Nevada that is what geneticists call a "hybrid zone" for silk moths. In the hybrid zone, two species of silk moths interbreed to produce fertile offspring - unlike lab-bred hybrids between the same two species. These naturally occurring hybrid populations serve as unique, non-reproducible laboratories in nature, offering an exceptional opportunity to gain greater insight into how evolution itself operates. A handful of color photographic plates illustrate this exceptional account of the hidden wonders of one of nature's smaller species. Accessible to readers of all backgrounds, Moth Catcher is as highly recommended to the lay person with a budding interest in natural science as it is to professionals curious to hear a firsthand account of fieldwork and its astonishing results.

Michael Collins' book very effectively bridges the gap between the passions of a lover of nature and the frontiers of scientific discovery - in new evolutionary thought.

The book is introduced with a beautiful poem written by his daughter, who says so much in a few chosen words.