raggetty said:
Thank you for all that information, I was aware of the BDFS and the cost of a copy of Land Bugs !! which is why I wondered about the cdrom version.
If it illustrates the species well enough I see it as a good investment, but I have seen so many books which just arent clear enough to distinguish the different aspects of each species.
It does appear that there are very fews books available that cover this area.
You are obviously interested in this subject also !
Thanks again, and I think I will have to try the cdrom, has anyone bought the 'Water Beetles' volumes also from Pisces on cdrom, this set on disc is a hefty £55, i would assume that this would be more beneficial and in depth, any views anyone ??
Hello raggety,
The Pisces Conservation CD-ROM on the Water Beetles is rather similar to the Land and Water Bugs in that it is 50 years old and therefore rather out of date.
Any new species recorded since either original publication went to print, will not be included. It is a pity that there are few, if any, recent publications covering these insect orders mainly due to there being so few people who have an interest in these groups. There are a very limited number of Coleopterists and Hemnipterists in this country, and many just study perhaps only a few families rather than the whole order. Any publications by these enthusiasts would probably be published in Entomological Journals rather than in book form.
The only way I can see to obtaining the most recent publications is to contact the National Recorders of both Hemiptera and Coleoptera, and see what they suggest as to recent publications.
The British Hemiptera is covered by Dr. Bernard Nau who's Email address I gave in a post yesterday. As far as Coleoptera is concerned there are I believe, several National Recorders each specialising in a specific family or group of these insects. Contact details for this latter group should be obtainable from the Institute of Hydrology and Terrestrial Ecology at Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire. Latterly known as the Biological Records Centre. Try a Google search for their website and then follow the links to national recorders.
Many research papers from entomological journals may be obtainable from your local library on the Inter Library Loans Service. Photocopies of some papers may be available free of charge, or at a minimal charge, through the same service. I have found this I.L.L. service to be very good in locating obscure journals that cost the earth to subscribe to on an annual basis.
Sadly, the Warne Natural History books entitled The Wayside and Woodland Series, is no longer published and copies of their rarer publications on Hemiptera and Coleoptera are very expensive even as second hand volumes.
You could also try looking on Ebay, I have bought a large number of books through their auction service, but it is not always cheap, but there again, you may get lucky.
Finding good up to date books on a specific group of insects can be more difficult than finding the insects themselves.
Harry
