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Books > Sport & Leisure > Natural history, country life & pets > Wild animals > Insects & spiders
Great French entomologist's charming essays on insect life combine scientific rigor with the style of a literary classic. Beautifully written passages reveal the intricate, fascinating worlds of the beetle, cicada, praying mantis, glow-worm, wasp, grub, cricket, locust, and other creatures as they hunt, build nests, feed families, and more. Rare volume will delight any naturalist.
Every autumn, the monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate from as far north as Canada to Mexico. Memory is not their guide — no one butterfly makes the round trip — but each year somehow find their way to the same fifty acres of forest on the high slopes of Mexico’s Neovolcanic Mountains, and then make the return trip in the spring.
Every year Americans use a staggering five hundred million pounds of toxic pesticides in and around their homes, schools, parks, and roads - a growing health risk for people and the environment. But are these poisons really necessary? This book, appealing to the hunter in us all, shows how to triumph in combat with pests without losing the war to toxic chemicals. Tiny Game Hunting, written in a lively and entertaining style and illustrated with detailed drawings, gives more than two hundred tried-and-true ways to control or kill common household and garden pests without using toxic pesticides.
Ever since men first hunted for honeycomb in rocks and daubed
pictures of it on cave walls, the honeybee has been seen as one of
the wonders of nature: social, industrious, beautiful, terrifying.
No other creature has inspired in humans an identification so
passionate, persistent, or fantastical.
Snake venom that digests human flesh. A building cleared of every
living thing by a band of tiny spiders. An infant insect eating its
living prey from within, saving the vital organs for last. These
are among the deadly feats of natural engineering you'll witness in
"The Red Hourglass, " prize-winning author Gordon Grice's
masterful, poetic, often dryly funny exploration of predators he
has encountered around his rural Oklahoma home. "From the Hardcover edition."
Dinosaurs, however toothy, did not rule the earth--and neither do
humans. But what were and are the true potentates of our planet?
Insects, says Scott Richard Shaw--"millions" and "millions" of
insect species. Starting in the shallow oceans of ancient Earth and
ending in the far reaches of outer space--where, Shaw proposes,
insect-like aliens may have achieved similar preeminence--"Planet
of the Bugs" spins a sweeping account of insects' evolution from
humble arthropod ancestors into the bugs we know and love (or fear
and hate) today.
This is a close-up look at the world of ants. Erich Hoyt recounts observations from an ant expedition to the tropical jungle with Edward O. Wilson. He introduces ants who harvest crops, raise insects as livestock, build roads and bridges, embark on nuptial fights and go to war.
RSPB Spotlight: Ladybirds is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos, and features succinct, detailed text written by a knowledgeable naturalist. Brightly coloured and pleasingly pattered, ladybirds are among some of our most beloved and familiar invertebrates. Their role in helping to protect our crops by devouring huge numbers of pests has firmly established these tiny, flying beetles as the gardeners' friend. Spotlight Ladybird focuses on the 26 species that are resident in the UK, from the widespread but unusual Orange Ladybird to the rare - and aptly named - Scarce 7-spot Ladybird. Ladybird expert, Richard Comont considers the conservation challenges facing these iconic species, whose populations are now at risk thanks to the threat posed by one of their own, the invasive alien Harlequin Ladybird. And he covers all aspects of ladybirds' biology, from tiny larvae emerging from their oval eggs to large aggregations that converge at specific sites around the world. Richard also examines the natural history and cultural significance of this fascinating group of beetles, from Ladybird Books to Thor. The Spotlight series introduces readers to the lives of our favourite animals with eye-catching colour photos and informative expert text.
Among the largest of all insects, dragonflies and damselflies are conspicuous. Active during the day, often brightly colored, and extremely photogenic-something about their appearance and dashing flight suggests a primeval world of tree ferns and dinosaurs. The first guide of its kind, this book includes an in-depth introduction with an overview of Costa Rican biodiversity and illustrated morphological terms. The species accounts show males and females of most species, detailed illustrations and close-ups of key distinguishing features, and descriptions of habitat, behavior, and range. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica gives readers the information they need to identify nearly every species in the country. Experienced dragonfly fans and new enthusiasts alike will find it an indispensable resource.
The authors describe more than 120 common varieties of southwestern insects and arthropods, enabling the reader to appreciate and respect the role "creepy crawlies" play in the world.
Discover how honey is made, what bees do all day and how baby bees are born in this fascinating introduction to the world of bees. With colourful illustrations, flaps to lift and holes to peep through.
The number of people interested and active in keeping bees at an amateur level has continued to increase over the past few years in both rural and urban situations. This guide, aimed at beginning beekeepers, and the only one to be endorsed by the BBKA provides an authoritative text, along with clear photographs and illustrations. The book introduces the reader to beekeeping, including such areas as the workings of the colony, the structure of a hive, how to acquire bees and keep them healthy and what happens in each month in a beekeeping year. Each chapter is accompanied by anecdotes, answers to frequently asked questions and fascinating facts about bees and honey. The new edition includes new step-by-step sequences to illustrate procedures such as containing a swarm, identifying the queen, using a smoker and cleaning a hive as well as more information on different kinds of hives, disease management and many other key areas.
Illustrations by Pamela Johnson "A very fine book indeed. . . . Longgood's Thoreauvian patience and powers of observation . . . make The Queen Must Die a special book." James Kauffman, Christian Science Monitor "Longgood's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He supplies a fund of unfamiliar information about a changeless civilization buzzing about its business just outside our attention." Walter Clemons, Newsweek "The remarkable complex social order of bees leads the least speculative to speculate, and Longgood's speculations, leavened with quiet wit, are of a high order of stylish imagination." Los Angeles Times "A beautiful book about one of nature's most industrious, 'work-or-die' insects. . . . Fascinating reading." Rocky Mountain News
Explore close-up the fascinating lives of insects. Why do fireflies glow? How do a cricket's chirps differ from a grasshopper's? At what time of day are dragonflies most active? This information-packed guide explains the behavior of the insects around us-and raises the curtain on an exciting drama taking place before our eyes. Illustrated throughout with pen-and-ink drawings, the Stokes Guide to Observing Insect Lives tells how, where, and when to observe the most intriguing activities of more than 60 common insects in their natural habitats. The species covered range from ants, bumblebees, and silk moths to June beetles, snow fleas, and monarch butterflies.
The bright colours and fascinating ways of this small but important group of insects attract immediate attention. Cicindelidae, or tiger beetles, are frequently encountered, but they are difficult to capture, since they are alert and elusive, and still more difficult to identify. This intensive study of the distinguishing characteristics, geographical distribution and variation, and habits and habitats of tiger beetles in Canada - the culmination of the author's main interest for many years - will provide a much-needed reference work. Studies of insect families are scarce, and professional and amateur entomologists alike will find this book a most useful aid in their investigations and a stimulus to further research.
Identifying bees on the wing is known to be tricky. The Bees of North Carolina: An Identification Guide is a beginner's resource designed to help quickly and generally identify native bees in North Carolina. Developed by experts at NC State Extension, it provides an overview of some of the most common groups of bees in the state. The guide will help users learn to recognize bees according to key characteristics and, eventually, according to their overall appearance.
Capture the delicate beauty of the great outdoors with this enchanting collection of stickers. Page after page of this book is packed with beautiful vintage drawings of creatures that soar, flutter, and glide. Get creative! Adorn your personal items with more than a thousand bird- and insect-themed stickers, create gorgeous artwork and stationery, or simply enjoy this book as an exquisite keepsake. |
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