An Obsession with Butterflies;
Our Long Love Affair with a Singular Insect
Sharman Apt Russell
Perseus Publishing, xviii + 238 pp, 2003
$24
This fascinating book explores many marvels and mysteries in the world of butterflies. Ms. Russell clearly fell in love with butterflies when a Western Tiger Swallowtail dipped in her face one summer afternoon by a river in New Mexico, starting a lifelong passion.
She writes about the many dangers besetting caterpillars and the ways they cope with them by various combinations of disguise, repellants and poison. The tells us how some 10 percent of caterpillars develop symbiotic relationships with ants and how others seek "safety in numbers" of their own kind. She also has a wonderful chapter on metamorphosis, "archetypical of spiritual transformation."
Although she downplays the role of butterflies as pollinators (moths do it better and bees do it MUCH better!), she describes experiments showing that butterflies can learn which flowers are the most promising sources of nectar. Her discussions of wing patterns, "Butterfly Matisse," and courtship behavior, "Love Stories," are two of her most interesting chapters. I had not known that a male butterfly can install a "sphragis" or chastity belt on a female with whom he has just mated!
The author provides a concise account of butterfly farms in her chapter on "The Business of Butterflies." These supply pupae to some 50 butterfly houses (walk in displays) around the world and yield sustainable incomes to villagers in countries such as Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea and Kenya. She also mentions the U.S. commercial farms raising Monarchs for weddings and Painted Ladies for school projects, as well as concerns about the spread of diseases when the butterflies are released!
One of the special delights of the author's narratives are her accounts of her interactions with entomologists. These include Dick Vane-Wright, Keeper of Entomology at the British Museum; Phil DeVries, author of The Butterflies of Costa Rica; and Rudi Mattoni, savior of the little Blues of the California dunes. She also has a delightful chapter on heroic efforts of Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace.
The book is well produced, has some nice black and white pictures of butterflies, and 19 pages documenting the sources Ms. Russell used. I recommend it highly!
Dexter Hinckley
© 2003