Research Catalog

Title

An obsession with butterflies : our long love affair with a singular insect / Sharman Apt Russell.

Author

Russell, Sharman Apt.

Publication

Cambridge, MA : Perseus Publishing, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 238 pages : illustrations; 20 cm

Summary

"From the horned caterpillar, whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock butterfly, with wings that hiss like a snake, Russell traces butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures' many obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. In this way, she reveals the logic behind our own endless fascination with butterflies - as well as the driving passion of the legendary collectors, including the tragic Eleanor Glanville, whose children declared her mad because of her obsessive butterfly collecting, and the brilliant Henry Walter Bates, whose collections from the Amazon in 1858 helped develop his theory of mimicry in nature." "Russell also takes us inside some of the world's most prestigious natural history museums, where scientists obsessively catalogue and categorize new species of Lepidoptera, hoping to shed light on insect genetics and evolution."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Butterflies > Collection and preservation
• Butterflies > Metamorphosis
• Butterflies > Nomenclature (Popular)
• Butterflies > Popular works
• Butterfly watching
• Natural history literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Obsession with Butterflies -- 2. Tough Love -- 3. You Need a Friend -- 4. Metamorphosis -- 5. Butterfly Brains -- 6. Butterfly Matisse -- 7. Love Stories -- 8. The Single Mom -- 9. On the Move -- 10. In the Land of Butterflies -- 11. The Natural History Museum -- 12. Not a Butterfly -- 13. Timeline -- 14. The Business of Butterflies -- 15. Air and Angels.

ISBN

0738206997

LCCN

2003102851

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries