Insectopedia uncovers the fascinating and infinitely varied world of insects. It explores their intriguing behaviour and biology – from mating and breeding, metamorphosis and movement to sight, smell, hearing and their adaptations to heat and cold.

A chapter on superorganisms probes the curious phenomenon of social communities among insects; another covers the critical role that these creatures play in maintaining the fragile balance of life on our planet. The book concludes with a 60-page illustrated field guide, describing most insect orders and their main families.

Previously published as Insectlopedia of Southern Africa, this fully revised and redesigned edition includes up-to-date information throughout, an expanded ID section, and several hundred new photographs.

Authoritative and informative, Southern African Moths & Their Caterpillars provides a comprehensive overview of the moth fauna of the region.

Featuring more than 1,500 of the 11,000 species occurring here, the guide focuses on those that are most abundant, of economical or ecological importance, conspicuous or unusual.

This essential guide offers:

• Authoritative text richly supported with photographs of both adult moth and larva
• Clear ID pointers plus information on biology, habitat and distribution
• An informative introduction covering evolution, life cycle, diversity and ecological importance of moths

Thoroughly revised and updated, this long-awaited new edition of Field Guide to the Spiders of South Africa remains the most comprehensive guide to South African spiders published to date.

It features over 780 of the more common spider species encountered in the field and in homes and gardens, as well as representative species from some of the rarer spider families.

• ‘Quick Keys’ to the 72 South African spider families provide a useful starting point to identification.
• Succinct genus and species accounts cover identifying characteristics, breeding, behaviour, distribution and conservation status.
• Colour photographs and/or illustrations as well as distribution maps support each entry.
• Introductory chapter discusses spider morphology, spider life cycle, the functions of silk, as well as spider collection techniques.
• Section on venom identifies species that pose a danger to humans, unpacks neurotoxic and cytotoxic venom, and details the symptoms and treatment of spider bites.

PLAY AND LEARN: learn about bees and biodiversity as you play this family strategy game for age 6+, based on traditional Mancala

SCREEN-FREE FUN for two players aged 6 and up

SOMETHING TO TREASURE: this is a quality product made to last, with bespoke illustration and sleek and stylish packaging

EXPLORE THE ENTIRE SERIES: this game is one of our nature games, others include Bird Bingo, I Saw It First! Ocean, Match a Leaf, Under the Sea

LAURENCE KING PUBLISHING has been capturing imaginations and inspiring creativity in new and unexpected ways for over 30 years, with playful and eye-catching games, gifts and books

Buzz the bees to the flowers to collect pollen and then back to the hive to make honey for feeding and growing your very own bee colony. The player with the largest colony wins! Based on the ancient gameplay of mancala, Beehive Mancala is a fun strategy game for adults and children aged 6+. Includes facts about the bees and flowers featured, plus details on the honey-making process and the importance of bees from the beekeeper at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

A book of evocative and atmospheric photographs taken by Dick Hawkes to create a representative record of this precious and ecologically unique habitat - before much of it is lost to the many threats it faces. Chalk streams have been described as England's "rainforest". Around 85% of the world's chalk streams are in England. They are beautiful, biologically distinct and amazingly rich in wildlife, but are under threat from man-made issues of abstraction, pollution from chemicals and effluent, development for housing, and climate change. Included in the book are images of typical habitats and species of wildlife found in chalk streams and water meadows, highlighting those that are rare or most under threat.

Thirty years of Butterflies in traditional Lancashire and Cheshire. A regional butterfly atlas with a difference: taking three ten-year periods (last decade of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st), this book documents the changes in distribution and abundance of all the butterfly species which occur of have occurred within vice-counties 58, 59, 60 and the furness portion of 69, which equate to the true historic or traditional English counties of Cheshire and Lancashire a " a a no legislation has ever changed the boundaries of Britaina s traditional countiesa a From a base in the MerseyValley, close to the border between the counties, the author explores the length and breadth of both of them, noting how the butterflies have been affected by human activities as well as by the forces of Nature, and also takes a closer look at the 1974-created administrative areas of Merseyside and Greater Manchester, and their central cities of Liverpool and Manchester. There is also a section of flowers which butterflies use for their nutrition within the two counties.

'Jones' Icones' is a stunning six-volume manuscript containing paintings of some of the most important butterfly and moth collections at the end of the eighteenth century. It is the work of William Jones (1745-1818), a wealthy wine merchant from Chelsea who, on retirement, devoted the rest of his life to studying and painting butterflies and moths. Held in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the volumes contain over 1,500 ink and gouache paintings representing 760 species from around the world. Work continues to this day to determine whether all the original specimens depicted still survive. This set of three A5, softback notebooks with high quality ruled paper makes an exquisite gift for nature-lovers and writers alike.

Sasol Eerste Veldgids tot Spinnekoppe & Skerpioene van Suider-Afrika bied aan die jong leser Æn fassinerende blik op die ryke verskeidenheid spinagtiges wat in die streek voorkom. Met behulp van volkleur fotoÆs en maklik leesbare teks, sal die jong volwassene en ontluikende natuur liefhebber die algemene spesies in Suider-Afrika identifiseer.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

A completely up-to-date introduction to the most common group of bees in Britain. Bees, for most people, mean honey or bumble bees, but in fact these social species make up only a small proportion of the species that live in Britain. Open your eyes to the so-called ‘solitary’ bees, and discover a wonderfully diverse population – miners, leafcutters, carpenters and masons – many of which can be found in your own back garden. Solitary bees come in a variety of colours and sizes, with some as large as bumblebees and some only a few millimetres long, and many are key pollinators for our crops and wildflowers. This comprehensive book will tell the story of how these bees live, reproduce and thrive: discover the numerous strategies used by male bees to find females and persuade them to mate; follow the females as they build their nests – or in the case of ‘cuckoo’ species, sneak into the nests of their neighbours – and watch as the new generation appears. Explore the interactions between flowering plants and their bee visitors, asking what the plants get from the relationship, as well as how the bees select the plants they visit, and the ingenuity required to extract pollen, nectar and other rewards. Finally, learn places where bees flourish and what can be done to encourage them and ensure they continue to pollinate our flowers and crops. Drawing on all the latest research as well as the authors’ own observations in the field, this timely New Naturalist gives a wonderful insight into the complicated lives of solitary bees, and the complexity of the behaviour and ecology of this remarkable group of insects.

Grab your coat and get ready for an outdoor adventure! This brilliant activity book is packed full of outside play ideas based on four of your favourite books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. With a wide range of activities created by nature play specialists Little Wild Things, this book is bursting with ideas to encourage children and adults to explore and celebrate nature together. Includes activities based on: Superworm, The Smeds and the Smoos, Zog and The Scarecrows' Wedding.

How do bees communicate? What does a beekeeper do? Did you know that Napoleon loved bees? Who survived being stung by 2,443 bees? This book answers all these questions and many more, tracking the history of bees from the time of the dinosaurs to their current plight.