Customer Reviews

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Butterflies & Moths: An Easy to Use Field Guide

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Lots of pretty photographs, but that's about it. Practically useless as a field guide.

The species are grouped by zoogeographic regions, meaning all of the moths and butterflies of North America are lumped together in the Nearctic region. Within each reagion, species are arranged -- get this -- alphabetically! The result is that the first species listed is Actias luna, the luna moth; the second species is Aglais milberti, Milbert's tortoise-shell butterfly; the third is Alypia octomaculata, the eight-spotted forester; and so on. In other words, no attempt is made to group families or even orders together. Moths, butterflies, skippers are all mixed together indiscriminately. The young naturalist is thus deprived of the joy of natural classification that makes the study of these insects so fascinating.

Furthermore, many common names are inexplicably missing. The above-mentioned Milbert's tortoise-shell, for example, is identified only by its scientific name. Danaus plexippus is identified as the Monarch, but the Monarch's famous mimic, the Viceroy, is identified only as Basilarchia archippus. Habitats, date ranges and larval food plants are not reliably given. Over-all, a very poor performance.

Mercifully, this book is out of print now. I'm entering this review on the chance that someone might pick up a copy somewhere and get discouraged. Don't get discouraged. Throw this book into the rubbish and go buy a nice Peterson field guide.