Dr. Walker and Dr. Corbet make a signal contribution in gathering together all available information on the dragonflies of Canada and Alaska. The order as a whole and the zygoptera are covered. The treatment is not confined to taxonomy and geographical distribution, but includes data on habitats, seasons of adult life, and brief notes on habits when these are available.

Set includes revised editions of some issues.

Written in language that is accessible to the sports fisherman and the naturalist and with over 1,000 original illustrations, the book includes features such as coverage of all insect families and genera important to fly fishing; comphrensive treatment of the biology of all life stages of aquatic insects including terrestrial as well as aquatic stages; special chapters on shore dwelling insects, insects associated with aquatic vascular plants, residents of tree holes and plant cups, aquatic arachnids and freshwater crustaceans.

Dragonflies are conspicuous insects. Many are large; they fly strongly; most are brightly coloured. As a result, they have been collected extensively. Their larvae are less familiar. 'Mud-eyes', as some are called, are drab, and almost all live in fresh waters, out of sight. They are, perhaps, best known as bait for freshwater fish. The dragonflies constitute a very distinct order of insects, the Odonata. In Australia, two suborders are represented: damselflies (Zygoptera), generally very slender insects, the fore- and hindwings similar in shape and venation and commonly held closed above the body at rest (Figs 46-63), the larvae with external gills on the end of the abdomen (Figs 4A-C, E); and dragonflies proper (Anisoptera), stouter, stronger-flying insects, the fore- and hindwings more or less dissimilar in shape and venation and commonly held spread at rest (Figs 64-101), the larvae with internal, rectal gills (see Chapter 2). Living representatives of the third suborder (Anisozygoptera) are confined to Japan and the Himalayas. The term 'dragonfly' is commonly applied to the entire order.