70 BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 



a dry husk of dead skin. Should its first line of defence, subterfuge under what looks 

 like bird manure, fail it, the pupa can hope for a second chance by offering its fifth 

 cast skin as a decoy head and shoulders, and if this disguise is removed it must hope 

 that its final flattened form, held tight onto the leaf, will conceal it until the adult 

 beetle emerges, a few days later. 



References 



Gressitt, J. L. 1952. The tortoise beetles of China (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). Proc. Calif. 



Acad. Sci. 27: 435. 

 Sharp, D. 1909. The Cambridge natural history. Insects, Part 2, pp. 283-285. 

 Van Emden, H. F. 1962. Key to species of British Cassidinae larvae (Col., Chrysomelidae). 



Entomologist's Mon. Mag. 98: 33-36. 

 Westwood, J. 0. 1839. An introduction to the classification of insects; founded on the natural habits 



and corresponding organisation of different families. London, Longman etal., Vol. l,pp. 376-381. 



BOOK REVIEW 



Australian weevils, by E. C. Zimmerman. Melbourne, CSIRO, Volume 5, colour plates 

 1 -304, 1991 and Volume 6, colour plates 305-632, 1992. — This ambitious series is envis- 

 aged to comprise 8 volumes, the remaining six (text) volumes to be published by 1996. 

 Although perhaps only of peripheral interest to British entomologists, or to weevil specia- 

 lists, the books are remarkable for their colour plate presentation of the insects themselves. 



Each of the 632 colour plates is made up of 8 photographs arranged two by four 

 down the page. Each pair of photographs shows dorsal and side view of a single 

 specimen. A uniform blue background and careful lighting show the delicate 

 colouring, sculpturing and scaling of each beetle to full advantage. Each specimen 

 is mounted on a card point (occasionally one is pinned), allowing many underside 

 characters to be seen in side view. The odd head or tail is shown in particular close- 

 up and there are a few general shots of habits, but most of the plates are given over 

 to this novel presentation. Books such as these represent landmark achievements; 

 debate on whether photographs or paintings are superior hinge about them. 



The various editions of South's The moths of the British Isles are accorded greater 

 or lesser status depending on their colour plate style. With the appearance of Skinner's 

 Moths of the British Isles photography looked set to take over from paintings, at 

 least for the Lepidoptera. On the other hand set specimens of beetles are not so 

 photogenic; the carabid volumes of the Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica series 

 (Lindroth, C. H., 1985 and 1986) contained 8 colour plates from photographs and 

 worked well enough for some of the prettily marked species. 



At the BENHS's own annual exhibitions, highly interesting specimens are selected 

 for photographic reproduction in the journal. Where butterflies and moths are 

 regularly chosen, the occasional fly or bee makes an appearance, but beetles are seldom 

 done justice, though not for want of interest on the part of the exhibit or technological 

 expertise on the part of the photographer. At life size reproduction, beetles just do 

 not photograph well. Here then is an example of how beetle photography can work — at 

 between two and twenty times life size. 



The lavish production of these two volumes could not have been possible without 

 what must be some considerable financial input from the author and friends to 

 subsidize the publishing costs. The author's faith in financing such a venture must 

 surely be rewarded by the knowledge that the books are a remarkable achievement. 

 The text volumes are awaited with interest. 



R. A. Jones 



