book review 



Australian Butterflies 



by Chari ks McCubbin 



nr n Sri" 



Published by N«-lson Privc W5 



in mow trf the wfdesjjread interesi 

 iii Australian butterflies, n is remark- 

 able that, until now, no definite hook 

 h&fi appeared on the subject since 

 Waterhouse anil I y, ill's •'Butterflies 

 ul Uistiaha" in I <H 4 ami "What 

 Butterfly is Thai'" In I Jr. Wain 

 house in D32. 



1 his superb bonk by C harles Mc 

 Cubhin illustrates B|Kl describes all 

 the known Australian species. over 

 and many varieties. The text, 

 which is written in a pleasaiil yet 

 authoiitative stvle, contains more 

 infoi mation about our hulteillies than 

 has appeared in any one hook before. 

 A page and a half of acknowledg- 

 ments and nwnv muie throughout the 

 text testily to Che tact that Mr. 

 MeCuhhin has drawn heavily on the 

 accumulated experience of his matt) 

 friends, neveitheless much of the 

 information is a result of his own 

 painstaking observation. 



\s well as a description ot each 

 species and then known varieties, 

 there is a great deal of mlornuuion 

 about their habitat, food plants l.te 

 history, range and habits \l| this is 

 written with a minimum ol techno 

 logical jargon and is thus fully com 

 prchciisible to the average rdMlto hUl 

 SJtll accurate Mltl scientific. Hie 

 author has resisted the temptation to 

 write a detailed entomological intro- 

 duction hut has given a concise and 

 quite up to date outline of the 

 taxonomy and morphology ol huttet 

 Hies in 12 pages A comprehensive 

 .section on collection, mounting and 

 storage, a short glossary of entomo- 

 logical terms, a mosi useful biblio- 

 graphv compiled by Mr. Arturs 



Ncboiss and two indices one r\ir 

 buttertlies and one tor plains t , M ,i 

 pletes [ho text of the hook. 



It i 



makes 

 but It 

 heie ; 



the test. 



howevei. [foj 

 this such a distinctive hook, 

 illustrations We do noi fmj 

 hundred pages of unadorned 

 text followed by 50 or so plates ol 

 butterflies in neat rows as is so otict. 

 the case but throughout the whoii 

 book aic Mr, McCuhbm's del, Huh 

 waieicoloius. Fveiy butterfly lv 

 depieled life si/.e and with retuaikdbli. 

 aceuiacy. In a gicat many cases they 

 are shown wiih their tviod plant and 

 Hi some eases with their lai vac m 

 other aspects of their life histurv 

 Many ol the full page or double p;i|v 

 p:imlings Ii.oc a l.ackgioiiiu! of [juid- 

 scape depicting the region where On 

 butterflies are found and such is Mr 

 MeCuhhin's art that these places me 

 mostly instantly recognisable to the 

 naturalist without reference to the 

 text. A high degree of accuracy tu* 

 been achieved in the a*ndi1ion of 

 colour as will be seen on comparing 

 actual specimens with the illustrations 

 and here praise is also due to the 

 printer lor the excellent quality 1)4 

 reprodncliori. I his ,s pai liculailv 

 noticeable with the .subtle blues .mij 

 purples of manv of the I vcaemd..e 

 All in all, ihis book, which would 

 delight Sir Charles Snow in lis tllec 

 live fusing of ' The Two Cultures', 

 will be a valuable relerence work for 

 the scientist and student, an absolute 

 must for all naturalists even remold 1 , 

 interested in Australian butterflies 

 and a delight to all as a wotk o* an 

 Pf.ti-r Kt i r v 



324 



V,c. Nat Vol SB 



