Although the collecting of butterflies is today an emotive subject, it is impossible to separate a history of British butterflies from a history of their collectors, without whose activities our knowledge of the identification, occurrence, distribution, and variation of British butterflies would be much the poorer. Liberally laced with contemporary quotations, this book brings to life the past three hundred years of butterfly study, with details of early societies, collecting equipment, biographies of 101 deceased lepidopterists, with portraits where available, as well as the chequered history in Britain of some 35 species of butterfly. The colour plates include some of the finest butterfly illustrations ever.

This entertaining and informative book traces the history of butterfly collection in Britain from the 17th century, when the study of natural history had its beginnings. Laced with anecdotes and quotations, the beautifully illustrated volume describes the equipment used and gives brief biographies of 101 deceased lepidopterists. 58 illustrations, 42 in color.

In this volume 268 species of the Larentinae are covered. Many of the genera have caused serious problems in identification, but based on the larger number of specimens illustrated on the 25 colour plates, the species can now be identified much more easily. In additional black and white photos for species which are difficult to identify, differential characters are pointed out with arrows. As in the previously published volumes 1,2 and 4, maps with the European distribution are given with dots for verified specimens. There are photographs of male and female genitalia of all species and this volume also contains a systematic catalogue of the European species including those of the neighbouring regions of North Africa, Macaronesia, Turkey and the Middle East. This is the first volume including genetic information from DNA barcoding which proved to be a useful, additional tool in identification, taxonomy and species delimitation.

WINNER OF THE 2010 GUARDIAN NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE 1991 NATURAL WORLD BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland provides comprehensive coverage of all our resident and migratory butterflies, including the latest information on newly discovered species such as Cryptic Wood White and the Geranium Bronze. When first published in 1991 it won the Natural World Book of the Year Award and won plaudits from all quarters. Fully revised, considerably expanded and reset in 2010, it was judged that year's Guardian Nature Book of the Year. Now revised again to reflect the latest research findings, and with up-to-date distribution maps, this remarkable book is THE guide to the appearance, behaviour, life cycle and ecology of the butterflies of Britain and Ireland.