Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland

J A Marshall & E C M Haes

Short-listed for the BP/Natural World award, 1988.

Provides not only a full description of all resident species in the orders Orthoptera (bush crickets, crickets and grasshoppers), Dictyoptera (cockroaches), Phasmida (stick-insects) and Dermaptera (earwigs), but also a detailed account both of their past and present status and distribution throughout the British Isles (including the Channel Islands) and of their habitat requirements.

Includes 12 colour plates, 59 text figures and 102 maps.

The comprehensive Introduction, with contributions by specialist authors, includes chapters on Nomenclature and Classification; the History of the Study of Orthoptera; Distribution and History of the British Species (D. R. Ragge); Life History; Song and Courtship; Predators, Parasites and Diseases; Locating and Collecting; Rearing and Culturing; Sound Recording (J. F. Burton); and Photography (R & C Foord). There is a useful Glossary.

Systematic section contains a check list of species mentioned in the text; a comprehensive key to and details of description, life history and behaviour, song, habitat, distribution and status (together with a vice-county map) for each species, and an account of casuals and migrants.

The final part of the book gives special emphasis to types of habitat (with colour plates) and the vital importance of their conservation, and includes the dot-distribution maps; five appendixes (including charts of offshore island and vice-county records; details of outstanding sites; and a gazetteer of the numerous localities cited in the work with their grid references and vice-county numbers); extensive references and an index to English and scientific names.

Judith Marshall is an expert on Orthoptera at The Natural History Museum, London, and Chris Haes is the former organiser of the Orthoptera Recording Scheme. 252 pages.

Softback £19.95