BOOK REVIEWS
PLANT PESTS OF ISRAEL, by Z. Avidov and I Harpaz.
1969. Israel Universities Press, Jerusalem (Daniel Davey &
Co. Inc., 964 Asylum Ave., Hartford, Conn. x 549 p. No
price indicated.
nus book is an English translation and revision of a
previous edition published in Hebrew in 1961 by the senior
author. It is stated in the preface that only arthropod and
mollusk species of economic importance on plants are
included in the text, and that plant-feeding nematodes,
crop-damaging birds, and insect and mite pests of warehouses
and the household are excluded. However, careful examination reveals that many of the insects attacking stored grains
and other products are given consideration.
Each pest is discussed separately and systematically
according to phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, and
common name. Common and scientific names, for the most
part, are in accord with the approved list published in Bull.
Entomol. Soc. Amer. 11:287-320, 1965.
The biology and ecology of each species is given along with
a rather detailed description of aU life stages. For some
species a detailed discussion on the biology of major. natural
enemies also is included. Control measures appropnate for
the particular pest are given and involve natural, cultural, and
mechanical means as well as the use of chemicals. In some
instances the chemical control measures are not specific
enough for zoologists, plant protection specialists, teachers,
students of agriculture, and farmers (as mentioned on the
jacket) to achieve success. The use of such wo.rds as
amphigonic (p. 108), gynaparae (p. 111), and fundatrices (p.
125), may tax the intellect of the farmer who uses the book.
There is no discussion of control principles or management of
pest populations, which to me would be an invaluable
addition to a book of this kind.
References cited at the end of the book total 340. There is
an index and a list of common, and scientific plant names
and another list is given of plants by scientific name with the
pests of these plants listed by scientific name.
.
.
There are 180 figures to enlighten the user. FIg. 172 IS
given as alfalfa seed chalcid (Bruchophagus rOOdi), but it is an
exact copy of the clover seed chalcid, Bruchophagus
p/atyptera. illustration made by W. R. Walton in the United
States. In fact it has the initials (WRW) on it exactly as they
appear on many of his other excellent drawings.
The book is printed in easy-to-read type on excellent
quality paper and is well indexed. It should serve its intended
purpose well in the appropriate regions of the world.
R. H. DAVIDSON
Faculty of Entomology
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210
THE INTIMATE DESERT, by W. C. O'Kane. 1969. Illustrations by C. M. Palmer, Jr. The University of Arizona
Press, Box 3398, College Station, Tucson, Ariz. 85700.
143 p. $2.95.
"Day by day, month by month, as I have traveled about
the desert country, my constant companion has been my
wife, Dorothy Braley O'Kane. The two of us, she and I, are
the ''we'' of this book. W. C. O'K."
These lines appear ahead of the Introduction of this small
and delightful book. nus reviewer admits to great admiration
for this truly cultured couple and has been delighted in the
reading of this book. Walter Collins O'Kane is 92 but his pen
remains facile, his vocabulary precise, and his syntax pleasingly clear. May it long be so. It should be recorded that Dr.
O'Kane was President of the A.A.E.E. in 1919 and was made
an Honorary Member in 1959.
The discussion of the living things in the desert country of
the Southwest will interest all biologists and especially those
with particular interest in the plants and animals that have
adapted to harsh pressures of arid environment. The pack rat
and the mountain lion, the roadrunner and the golden eagle,
the cottonwood and the Apache pine, the armadillo and the
javelina, the Gila Woodpecker and the wild turkey, the
manzanita and the Joshua tree appear in this little book amid
saguaro and cholla.
nus is a book for any leisure hour but especially for a
winter evening when the desert sun coming from the pages
can push back the cold.
R.H.NELSON
Lanham, Maryland
DIE ALTICINAE DES INDISCHEN SUBKONTINENTES
(COLEOPTERA-CHRYSOMELIDAE),
by Gerhard
Scherer. Pacific Insects Monograph 22. Published by
Entomology Department, Bernice P. Bishop Museum,
Honolulu, Hawaii. 1969. 251 p., 124 text fIg.
The entire volume is published in German, except for a
short English abstract and a key to the genera, which are in
English as well as in German. The material included is drawn
mostly from India, Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Darjeeling, and
some material from East and West Pakistan, Thailand, Laos,
Vietnam, and Malaysia. The author admits that East and West
Pakistan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia are very
poorly represented.
The author recognizes 95 genera and 525 species in the
subfamily Alticinae from the regions mentioned. Of this
number, 7 are new genera and 61 are new species. Three old
genera and 40 species were synonymized. The volume
consists of a short English abstract, a German introduction,
methods of study (1 page), 2 pages of notes on geographical
distn"bution, an index to genera and species, and an index to
host plants. Of course the bulk of the volume consists of keys
to the genera and species, and what amounts to a well
anotated checklist of the species. Under METHODS the
author states that the distribution and the host plant, where
known, are given for each species. In the index to host plants
only 54 plants were mentioned, which would mean that host
plants are known for no more than approximately 10% of the
species. Indeed, a check of the first 200 species listed showed
that only 10 had host plants mentioned.
The author does not indicate where types for the new
species are kept, but presumably they are at the Museum
Frey, the home institution of the author. Nor does the
author state whether the holotype is male or female. The
volume consists of 251 pages and 124 figures. The figures are
mostly silhouette line drawings of the entire beetle, occasionally of antennae and legs, and frequently frontal views of the
head. The aedeagus for most species is shown, and in each
case a drawing of the aedeagus includes a stippled or a
halftone surface view and a silhouette of the lateral view.
Very rarely is the aedeagus described beyond its length and a
reference to the figure. Keys and descriptions seem to put
great emphasis on color and on body length.
nus is a paper in the strict classical taxonomy sense.
Information seems to have been drawn from relatively few
specimens for each species, and almost no information on
biology or ecology is included.
46
R.W.STRANDTMUU{N
Texas Technological College
Lubbock, Texas 79409