to entomologists at any level from beginner to expert. It examines the 
factors contributing to the insects achieving their position as the dominant 
group of terrestrial animals. Among the myriad topics considered are: insect 
flight muscle, juvenile hormones, polarized light navigation, melanism in 
moths, the interrelationships of butterflies and plants, and slavery in ants. 
The articles are written in the inimitable Scientific American style, 
presenting the subject to the reader in nontechnical vocabulary, but never 
talking down to him. In addition, the illustrations are generally excellent. 
At a cost this low this fine book is within everyone's price range. 
The Mayflies of North and Central America. 
George F. Edmunds, Jr., Steven L. Jensen, and Lewis Berner. 1976. 
330 pages, 132 figures. University of Minnesota Press, 
Minneapolis. $28.30, hardbound. 
This will be the definitive work on North American Ephemeroptera for a very 
long time to come. The book contains extensive information on collecting and 
preparation techniques, keys to genus for both nymphs and adults of all North 
American genera, and descriptions of each genus. In addition there is a section 
on habitat and life history information for both nymphs and adults for each 
genus. The book has excellent illustrations and a well thought out layout. 
A must for anyone seriously interested in aquatic insects. 
Carabid Beetles in Their Environments, a Study on 
Habitat Selection by Adaptations. 
H. U. Thiele. 1977. Springer-Verlag. 
This book is about carabids, but would be interesting reading to anyone 
trying to understand how any group of animals fits into its environment. 
Included among the topics covered are: adaptive value of morphological variation, 
interspecific and intraspecific interaction (competition, aggregation, parasites, 
predators), ecological aspects of activity patterns, climatic factors 
influencing distribution, and ecological aspects of evolution. Regardless of 
what group of insects interest the reader, this book is ’full of information 
which will make him ask, "I wonder about this with respect to the . ...idae?" . 
Arachnida 2nd edition. Theodore Savory. 1977. 340 pages, 197 figures. 
Academic Press, New York, London, San Francisco. 
Anyone interested in learning about the second largest class in the animal 
kingdom couldn't hope to find a better introduction than this book. It spans 
the entire subject, from phylogeny to biochemistry, from embryology to 
zoogeography. There are sections which discuss all facets of arachnid biology 
for the class as a whole, and then a section is devoted to a thorough discussion 
of each of the arachnid orders. This book is unique in both the breadth of its 
coverage of the subject and in that it gives an equally detailed account of 
all the arachnid orders. 
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