Fantastic, informative, and humorous look at all things moth

books:

	• Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard John Himmelman Down East Books, 2002 - 232 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fantastic, informative, and humorous look at all things moth

_Discovering Moths_ by John Himmelman is a wonderful, witty, and informative look at all things moth, a book packed with beautiful color photographs and black-and-white drawings by the author as well as a glossary and a bibliography, a well-researched book that is also easily accessible to non-experts like me.

A very personable book, the author described his personal interests, discoveries, and fascination with these (mostly) nocturnal members of the order Lepidoptera, of which there are 110,000 species in the world, 11,000 in North America, and 2,300 in the author's home state of Connecticut. The first chapter described a group of adults and children he lead on August evening to look for moths, conveying quite well both his passion and his skill at presenting the world of moths to others. In this chapter, Himmelman described how he "sugared" for moths (baiting trees by painting on a mixture of stale beer, brown sugar, and various other aromatic and largely sweet ingredients) and provided instructions how others might attract moths the same way.

Chapter two looked at the life cycle of moths. He examined caterpillars in depth, including anatomy, locomotion, and feeding techniques (some actually feed beneath the surface of the water, while others, such as carpenterworms, bore into wood). He looked at caterpillar predators (major ones include ichneumon wasps and stinkbugs) and caterpillar defenses (some shoot acid). Pupation and cocoons were covered, as well as of course adult moth anatomy and physiology, including discussing how moths stay warm on cool nights (hair-like scales insulate their bodies and they shiver, vibrating their wings rapidly to warm the flight muscles) and how long they live (some live only a few days - and in fact are born without working mouthparts and so do not feed as adults - while others live for a few months, though the average life for an adult butterfly or moth is about two weeks).

The third chapter looked at fifteen of the most commonly encountered moth families, providing overall life histories, descriptions, and profiles of representative species. Family Arctiidae for instance includes Tiger Moths (one species of which, the Isabella Moth, has as its larval form the famous Woolly Bear caterpillar) and Wasp Moths (day-flying moths that closely resemble wasps). Some members of this family also produce sounds that either help attract mates or warn bats of their unpalatability. Other notable families include the Owlet Moths and Cutworm Moths (Noctuidae, which is the largest of the Lepidoptera families and includes the blood-sucking Vampire Moth of India and Malaysia) and the Slug Caterpillar Moths (Limacodidae, whose caterpillars lack legs but have rather a sucker-like foot on their underside).

Chapter four looked at what most people think of when they think of moths (well, one of the first things anyway); why moths are attracted to light. Surprisingly, there is not complete agreement on the subject. Most theories see moths not as attracted to light but rather trapped by it. Some theories imagine moths as seeing a dark halo around a light source and that moths attempting to escape the light head towards these dark areas, though instead of escaping the light they are either drawn nearer to it or left hopelessly spiraling around it. Other researchers speculate that moths rest around porch lights because to them it is as bright as day (and thus time to rest).

In this chapter Himmelman also discussed how bug zappers with disabled electrifying grids are an excellent way to attract moths but that otherwise the devices are evil, as they kill very few mosquitoes but kill thousands of harmless or beneficial insects, including not only moths but midges and various mosquito predators. Himmelman also covered how to attract moths with glowing sheets hanging in one's backyard (as well as some of the pitfalls of this technique; predators soon learn the location of these sheets, requiring the moth-watcher to either move the sheets or take a few nights off once in a while lest local birds, wasps, and frogs make a meal of all those moths).

Chapter five examined a typical year of moth activity in the author's backyard, describing moths for each month of the year. I was surprised to learn that some moths, such as a group called the Sallows, is active in the cold month of March (they feed on the flowing sap of maples, beeches, and birches, getting at the sap thanks to broken branches, woodpeckers, and maple sugar farmers).

Chapter six looked at the interaction of moths and men. A wide-ranging and too brief chapter, the author looked at among other things Mothra (nemesis of Godzilla), moth pests (notably the Gypsy Moth), the Death's Head Spinx (the moth of _Silence of the Lambs_), moths and commercial silk production, moths as food, and even Mexican jumping beans (the larvae of a moth whose larval and pupal stages occur within the seed capsules of the Mexican bean shrub).

Chapter seven looked at famous pioneers in the study of moths (and some of their bitter rivalries) and chapter eight looked at notable researchers in the field today.

Chapter nine showed how to find and raise moths from egg, larval, or pupae stages and discussed some of the equipment one might construct towards that end, including beating sheets (to help get caterpillars from branches), a "caterpillary" (a way to help keep a branch fresh in a terrarium for hungry caterpillars without drowning them), caterpillar sleeves (a way to rear caterpillars outdoors), and a "cocoonery" (an outdoor structure that gives newly emerging moths plenty of room to stretch their wings once they leave their pupal stage). He also had several pages of tips devoted to moth photography.

Chapter ten was a fascinating look at day-flying moths and chapter eleven examined the pros and cons of collecting moths versus only observing or photographing them, debates over why some insects seem to be more worth saving than others, the ethics of butterfly releases at weddings and funerals (he is against the practice), and issues of moth habitat preservation.

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If you like insects, this is your book

Discovering Moths describes how, where, and when to find moths. The author's enthusiasm immediately draws the reader in. After reading the book, I couldn't wait to start stalking and photographing my own backyard moths. The photographs and drawings are helpful and beautiful.

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Good text but not enough photos

This is a very good book text wise - very informative and written in an entertaining style. However, there are few photos and those that are there are small, grouped into sets of pages that are spliced into the book in sections. In my opinion, any book on something as spectacular as moths should have a much larger collection of photos. Yes, the information about them is important, but there is no substitute for a pictures - as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Great Book for those interested in Moths

Wonderful book for the layperson interested in moths. He tells you the common names of moths, as well as, their Latin names. He offer descriptive, and clear photos (although not numerous). John Himmelman certainly conveys his love of moths in an interesting way. His book is inspiring and entertaining. I read it from cover to cover in three days. He offers some good suggestions for attracting moths (which I tried and found to be very successful). It is difficult to find a good field guide for moths, and I would like to see him put one together. I also share his distaste for killing moths, and, too, prefer to photograph them. I would highly recommend this book. As a master naturalist myself, I can certainly relate to his delightful stories.

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If you like moths - you MUST get this book!! It's awesome!

I don't normally write reviews, but the book 'Discovering Moths' is really beautiful. I recently bought it from Amazon and, although I haven't read it all yet; half-way through- it is truly a wonderful book. I believe that such a book has been long overdue for moth enthusiasts. I feel in love with the book as soon as I got my hands on it.

I've never lost my fascination and appreciation for these beautiful creatures. I've got a modest "library" of field guides and books on Leps, and enjoy reading about them. I'm using the Sugaring recipe from the book this evening. This book will get you exploring your backyard. Or, as in my case, my back window sills.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

In lively, accessible prose, he explains the intricacy of moths' life cycle, their importance in nature, and how just a tiny handful of the many moth species are truly pests to humans. He tells how to attract moths with lights and bait, when and where to observe them, and how best to photograph these tiny subjects. Entertaining personal anecdotes and short profiles of some of the country's foremost mothers add human interest.

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