The second new Princeton Field Guide volume scheduled to be published this coming May from Princeton University Press should really set entomologists and general naturalist buzzing, for it will take another very important but under-represented-in-print geographic group of insects as its subject: “Common Bees of Western North America.”
This coming May will bring the publication of two very welcome new additions to the Princeton Field Guides series that will have entomologists and general naturalists alike swarming to their local book shops. The first of these is “Insects of North America” by Dr. John C. Abbott and Kendra K. Abbott.
Woodland Caribou, Common Loons, and Lake Sturgeon – what do these three species all have in common? All were once abundant around, on, or in the waters of the Great Lakes Basin. All are also greatly diminished in numbers there today. Yet they curiously persist as iconic images of this region. Scarcely any longer present, the memory of them persists. They are effectively ghosts.
Of the many natural delights to be found in urban areas, lichens present a reliable and readily available source of enquiry during even the most ordinary of strolls. However given the twenty thousand various species into which they have been divided, how can the amateur naturalist even begin to approach identification without toting along massive tomes and keys on even the shortest, most casual foray outdoors?