What do you think?
Rate this book
The Anatomy of Insects and Spiders: Over 600 Exquisite Forms
The gossamer wings of a dragonfly, the scarlet carapace of the lady beetle, the spectacular shape of the hawkmoth. The insect world teems with exotic forms and inspired renowned devotion in illustrators of the late 19th century. In a volume as jewel-like as its subject, The Anatomy of Insects & Spiders presents page after page of select engravings, woodcuts, and drawings from the Victorian era, the golden age of insect illustration. Meticulously rendered, they are paired with observations from early naturalists. The notes may describe the classification of the insect, how its body is constructed, its behavior and preferences, or its habitat. Arranged by insect type and covering all the families from bees and moths to ants and flies, The Anatomy of Insects & Spiders reveals detail that is normally seen only under a microscope. A natural for admirers of insect society, this charming volume is both a distinctive introduction and lively armchair companion.
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 13, 2024
Easy to read. Holistic. Great illustrations. Quick to the point. Sometimes could use a tiny bit more clarity, but very solid book on taxonomy and anatomy of Insects that proved tremendously enlightening for a newcomer to entomology.
Random book I was given by my parents just beginning a very serendipitous plunge into Entomology.
I feel like this book pretty much 100% accomplishes it's goal. Not at all an in depth plunge, but gets right to the point about the basics you neet to know about Insect Taxonomy. It's organized by chapters that are each about a separate Insect Order. On occasion it will lop a few together when the orders are not large enough to have their own chapter, or the orders are historically connected in their classification (Dictyoptera/Phasmida). The book gives each Insect Orders' basic functions and what defines them according to the linnean classification system. More specifically, it categorizes each order by what sets them apart from other orders in a defining and consistent manner. Example, for Hymenoptera which are Ants, Sawflies, Wasps, Bees; it comes down to how the fore and backwings are connected with small hooks, and whose wings are always membranous. Or, to classify Coleoptera, commonly named Beetles, these are defined by their Elytra, or sheathed wings. Sometimes the book will go into specifics about the Insect division or even species/genus when there are specific comments to be made about exceptions to the rule, etc. Sub-Class is ignored considering 99.9% of Insects belong to the sub-class of Pterygota. Meaning, winged insects or insects that at one point in their lives have wings or evolved from such. This is very crucial to understanding why the authors divide chapters by order, because guess what the defining quality of each of these insect orders is??? Spoiler alert: its their wings, or in greek "Ptera". Which is why literally all the order names end with that word, and you see it so commonly in their classificaiton.
I think this book could've benefitted from a little more clairification in the introduction to chapters as far as establishing a "golden rule" to defining each order. Particularly, for Phasmida, I was confused, considering the author defines them from their intricate webbed/leafy wings; while other Phasmida are wingless. So, me as someone who is a complete newcomer to entomology is like okay so if they're defined by wings but some don't have wings umm what makes them both Phasmida besides just, "it looks like it"? Which is not a helpful approach for Insect identification, considering how common mimesis is with them. I think each chapter could've benefitted largely from an additional 2-4 pages of introduction, as it's not like this book is already gignatic and overblown, there would be plenty more opportunity to add that in.
I very much enjoyed the holistic approach these authors took for this book. Even though the book says its specifically about Anatomy, it felt like most of the book always contextualized that anatomy into things like history, famine, agriculture, medicine, jewelry/accessories, literature, and other media. There is a lot of respect for poetry and the spiritual symbolism and human expression that these creatures have inspired in human beings. Asking why any of these orders of creatures came to recieve the reputation that they have throughout time. Asking, what is true and what is false about these stories of these beings that we have always lived alongside of. Even despite the brief entries per page, at no point are these creatures importance to the world, whether their benefits or their consequences to us, undersold.
Last thing is the illustrations, 90% of these are incredible and helpful. The way a lot of them are drawn can give an emphasis to certain parts of them that might be harder to observe on a photo, at least under certain lighting and angles. However on that note, some illustrations, because of their perspective/angle, don't prove to be as effective as others. Although, I'm going to give this slight problem a pass given that obtaining a perfectly preserved specimen that is so small, or observing them and having enough time in the wild and drawing them to perfection is a difficult task. I strongly suggest if you want to get the most out of this book you do not just read the text, and take your time observing all the illustrations you are given on each page. Taking the time to observe what commonalities and differences each insect has, is vital to understanding their functions and identifying them in a chaotically biodiverse and nuanced class of animals. Do yourself a favor and also google some of these as you go, I'm sure with the right mindset, you'll notice some things that provoke questions. For me this was things like looking at the shield bug, which could be mistaken as a beetle because of its shape. It looks a lot like it has elytras on its back, however it turns out these are simply an enlarged scutellum that gives it a similar appearance of a beetle's elytra.
Random book I was given by my parents just beginning a very serendipitous plunge into Entomology.
I feel like this book pretty much 100% accomplishes it's goal. Not at all an in depth plunge, but gets right to the point about the basics you neet to know about Insect Taxonomy. It's organized by chapters that are each about a separate Insect Order. On occasion it will lop a few together when the orders are not large enough to have their own chapter, or the orders are historically connected in their classification (Dictyoptera/Phasmida). The book gives each Insect Orders' basic functions and what defines them according to the linnean classification system. More specifically, it categorizes each order by what sets them apart from other orders in a defining and consistent manner. Example, for Hymenoptera which are Ants, Sawflies, Wasps, Bees; it comes down to how the fore and backwings are connected with small hooks, and whose wings are always membranous. Or, to classify Coleoptera, commonly named Beetles, these are defined by their Elytra, or sheathed wings. Sometimes the book will go into specifics about the Insect division or even species/genus when there are specific comments to be made about exceptions to the rule, etc. Sub-Class is ignored considering 99.9% of Insects belong to the sub-class of Pterygota. Meaning, winged insects or insects that at one point in their lives have wings or evolved from such. This is very crucial to understanding why the authors divide chapters by order, because guess what the defining quality of each of these insect orders is??? Spoiler alert: its their wings, or in greek "Ptera". Which is why literally all the order names end with that word, and you see it so commonly in their classificaiton.
I think this book could've benefitted from a little more clairification in the introduction to chapters as far as establishing a "golden rule" to defining each order. Particularly, for Phasmida, I was confused, considering the author defines them from their intricate webbed/leafy wings; while other Phasmida are wingless. So, me as someone who is a complete newcomer to entomology is like okay so if they're defined by wings but some don't have wings umm what makes them both Phasmida besides just, "it looks like it"? Which is not a helpful approach for Insect identification, considering how common mimesis is with them. I think each chapter could've benefitted largely from an additional 2-4 pages of introduction, as it's not like this book is already gignatic and overblown, there would be plenty more opportunity to add that in.
I very much enjoyed the holistic approach these authors took for this book. Even though the book says its specifically about Anatomy, it felt like most of the book always contextualized that anatomy into things like history, famine, agriculture, medicine, jewelry/accessories, literature, and other media. There is a lot of respect for poetry and the spiritual symbolism and human expression that these creatures have inspired in human beings. Asking why any of these orders of creatures came to recieve the reputation that they have throughout time. Asking, what is true and what is false about these stories of these beings that we have always lived alongside of. Even despite the brief entries per page, at no point are these creatures importance to the world, whether their benefits or their consequences to us, undersold.
Last thing is the illustrations, 90% of these are incredible and helpful. The way a lot of them are drawn can give an emphasis to certain parts of them that might be harder to observe on a photo, at least under certain lighting and angles. However on that note, some illustrations, because of their perspective/angle, don't prove to be as effective as others. Although, I'm going to give this slight problem a pass given that obtaining a perfectly preserved specimen that is so small, or observing them and having enough time in the wild and drawing them to perfection is a difficult task. I strongly suggest if you want to get the most out of this book you do not just read the text, and take your time observing all the illustrations you are given on each page. Taking the time to observe what commonalities and differences each insect has, is vital to understanding their functions and identifying them in a chaotically biodiverse and nuanced class of animals. Do yourself a favor and also google some of these as you go, I'm sure with the right mindset, you'll notice some things that provoke questions. For me this was things like looking at the shield bug, which could be mistaken as a beetle because of its shape. It looks a lot like it has elytras on its back, however it turns out these are simply an enlarged scutellum that gives it a similar appearance of a beetle's elytra.
November 28, 2024
A very enjoyable book. I liked the illustrations and want to know more about the insects and spiders.
October 7, 2007
another drawing reference book. maybe a little too glammed up for science purposes, if that makes any sense, but helpful for me. enjoyed reading about bugs on the bus.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews