New Naturalist: Moths by Michael Majerus, HarperCollins, 拢19.99, ISBN 0002201429; Butterflies of Europe* by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington, $26.95, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691090742
IT鈥橲 just not fair, says ecologist Michael Majerus, that butterflies evoke delicacy and beauty, while moths are linked to death and decay. To say something is 鈥渕oth-eaten鈥� is disparaging, and even Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount warned against storing up treasures on Earth 鈥渨here moth and rust doth corrupt鈥�.
Moths have been unjustly pilloried, says Majerus, an ecological geneticist at the University of Cambridge. In reality, these insects can be just as colourful and spectacular as butterflies. They are far more numerous鈥攏early 200,000 species are known worldwide, from the Arctic to the tropics.
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In the 18th and 19th centuries, fashionable gentlemen competed to amass the biggest collections of these creatures. Now we need a new breed of moth-watchers who can be among the first to pick up signs of environmental change by monitoring these remarkable insects, argues Majerus, in this wonderful contribution to the esteemed New Naturalist series.
If you鈥檙e still resolutely a butterfly-watcher, don鈥檛 forget to pack Tom Tolman鈥檚 guide on your next summer tour of Britain or the European continent.
I鈥檓 still hoping to see a purple emperor which, at my home in Sussex, is on the edge of its range in southern England but widespread throughout much of Europe. My chances are surely improved now that I know the males are 鈥渟trongly attracted to carnivore excrement, human perspiration, hot road-tar and fumes of petroleum spirit.鈥�
* Published in 1997 by HarperCollins as Collins Field Guide: Butterflies of Britain and Europe