"Southern California is home not only to the country's second largest metropolitan center but to an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 different kinds of insects. Insects of the Los Angeles Basin provides an introduction to more than 400 of the most conspicuous or curious of these invertebrate animals and to about 70 spiders, mites and ticks, and related forms. With color photographs or drawings of all but a few species, the text describes the size and most striking physical characteristics of adults and immature stages and gives information on locomotion and behavior, offensive and defensive maneuvers, mating rituals, food preferences, nests and traps, and noises and scents. The specific habitat and general geographic range of each insect are included, as are lore and superstition regarding some notorious species." "The author, Dr. Charles L. Hogue, has answered the questions that he was most often asked in his position as Curator of Entomology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The result is a highly readable text with an emphasis on the effects that insects have on the people who encounter them."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Insect Hearing provides a broadly based view of the functions, mechanisms, and evolution of hearing in insects. With a single exception, the chapters focus on problems of hearing and their solutions, rather than being focused on particular taxa. The exception, hearing in Drosophila, is justified because, due to its ever growing toolbox of genetic and optical techniques, Drosophila is rapidly becoming one of the most important model systems in neurobiology, including the neurobiology of hearing. Auditory systems, whether insectan or vertebrate, must perform a number of basic tasks: capturing mechanical stimuli and transducing these into neural activity, representing the timing and frequency of sound signals, distinguishing between behaviorally relevant signals and other sounds and localizing sound sources. Studying how these are accomplished in insects offers a valuable comparative view that helps to reveal general principles of auditory function.

According to Egyptian mythology, when the ancient Egyptian sun god Re cried, his tears turned into honey bees upon touching the ground. For this reason, the honey bee was sacrosanct in ancient Egyptian culture. From the art depicting bees on temple walls to the usage of beeswax as a healing ointment, the honey bee was a pervasive cultural motif in ancient Egypt because of its connection to the sun god Re. Gene Kritsky delivers a concise introduction of the relationship between the honey bee and ancient Egyptian culture, through the lenses of linguistics, archeology, religion, health, and economics. Kritsky delves into ancient Egypt's multifaceted society, and traces the importance of the honey bee in everything from death rituals to trade. In doing so, Kritsky brings new evidence to light of how advanced and fascinating the ancient Egyptians were. This richly illustrated work appeals to a broad range of interests. For archeology lovers, Kritsky delves into the archeological evidence of Egyptian beekeeping and discusses newly discovered tombs, as well as evidence of manmade hives. Linguists will be fascinated by Kritsky's discussion of the first documented written evidence of the honeybee hieroglyph. And anyone interested in ancient Egypt or ancient cultures in general will be intrigued by Kritsky's treatment of the first documented beekeepers. This book provides a unique social commentary of a community so far removed from modern humans chronologically speaking, and yet so fascinating because of the stunning advances their society made. Beekeeping is the latest evidence of how ahead of their times the Egyptians were, and the ensuing narrative is as captivating as every other aspect of ancient Egyptian culture.