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Obsession with Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair with a Singular Insect
A delightful look at the science of butterflies-and our obsession with them-by an acclaimed nature writer
238 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2003
15 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
About the author
Sharman Apt Russell
26 books264 followersI am pleased to be considered a nature and science writer and excited that my Diary of a Citizen Scientist was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing. The John Burroughs Medal was first given in 1926, and recipients include Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, John McPhee, and many others. To be in such a list.
My most recent nonfiction is What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs (Columbia University Press, 2024)--part memoir of my tracking experiences, part introduction to the basics of identifying mammal tracks, and part call to reform how we manage wildlife in North America.
My previous Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It (Pantheon Books, April, 2021) combines my longtime interest in the environment with my longtime interest in hunger. I began writing about this subject some twenty years ago, believing firmly that the goals of the environmentalist and the humanitarian are aligned. Healthy children require a healthy Earth. A healthy Earth requires healthy children.
Essentially I write about whatever interests me and seems important--living in place, grazing on public land, archaeology, flowers, butterflies, hunger, Cabeza de Vaca, citizen science, global warming, and pantheism.
I like this range of subject matter. I believe, too, in this braid of myth and science, celebration and apocalypse.
A little bit of bio:
Raised in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1981 I settled in southern New Mexico as a "back to the lander" and have stayed there ever since. I am a professor emeritus in the Humanities Department at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, as well as a mentoring faculty at Antioch University in Los Angeles. I received my MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and my B.S. in Conservation and Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley.
My work has been translated into Korean, Chinese, Swedish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Polish, and Italian. That is really a unique thrill: to see your words in Chinese ideograms.
My most recent nonfiction is What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs (Columbia University Press, 2024)--part memoir of my tracking experiences, part introduction to the basics of identifying mammal tracks, and part call to reform how we manage wildlife in North America.
My previous Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It (Pantheon Books, April, 2021) combines my longtime interest in the environment with my longtime interest in hunger. I began writing about this subject some twenty years ago, believing firmly that the goals of the environmentalist and the humanitarian are aligned. Healthy children require a healthy Earth. A healthy Earth requires healthy children.
Essentially I write about whatever interests me and seems important--living in place, grazing on public land, archaeology, flowers, butterflies, hunger, Cabeza de Vaca, citizen science, global warming, and pantheism.
I like this range of subject matter. I believe, too, in this braid of myth and science, celebration and apocalypse.
A little bit of bio:
Raised in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1981 I settled in southern New Mexico as a "back to the lander" and have stayed there ever since. I am a professor emeritus in the Humanities Department at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, as well as a mentoring faculty at Antioch University in Los Angeles. I received my MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and my B.S. in Conservation and Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley.
My work has been translated into Korean, Chinese, Swedish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Polish, and Italian. That is really a unique thrill: to see your words in Chinese ideograms.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
July 17, 2015
From scientific details about butterflies, legends, historical events and people in butterfly history, a visit to a London natural history museum, and a trip to Costa Rica, Sharman wrote a beautifully constructed and personally engaging account of the butterfly's natural history. The story ended too soon for me. My favorite section was the London museum which featured, alongside a history of Henry Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace, a magical Sharman moment as she warily opens butterfly collection drawers when she is left alone by the scientists. It was a powerful moment in the book and in my day. Thank you, Sharman.
July 3, 2021
If you wanna know more about them pretty, fluttery bugs, this was a good starting point for at least one reader.
Beyond that, since i ain't qualified to assess the scientific merits of this text, allow me to say that i found the type of writing and information i needed to get started. Russell sometimes flourishes artistically in displeasing (to me) ways but the vast majority of the text is eminently readable. I wanted info mainly about the caterpillar portion of this insect's lifecycle but, of course, you'll get at least as much about the titular phase as well. Similarly, i encountered many interesting facts about plant life even though my goal was to learn about a particular insect. I conclude that cross-disciplinarianism is inevitable for nonfiction. Maybe it's inherent to all fixed products of the human mind. Fud for thought anyway.
Finally, let it be known that someday i will write a book or make a short film called The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Another Unauthorized Biography. And when that happens, i'll cite this as my first source.
Beyond that, since i ain't qualified to assess the scientific merits of this text, allow me to say that i found the type of writing and information i needed to get started. Russell sometimes flourishes artistically in displeasing (to me) ways but the vast majority of the text is eminently readable. I wanted info mainly about the caterpillar portion of this insect's lifecycle but, of course, you'll get at least as much about the titular phase as well. Similarly, i encountered many interesting facts about plant life even though my goal was to learn about a particular insect. I conclude that cross-disciplinarianism is inevitable for nonfiction. Maybe it's inherent to all fixed products of the human mind. Fud for thought anyway.
Finally, let it be known that someday i will write a book or make a short film called The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Another Unauthorized Biography. And when that happens, i'll cite this as my first source.
June 25, 2015
poetic, varied, scientific but accessible. Russell writes what she loves, and it shows. this book is stunning, and worth more than one read
July 13, 2016
“I am a child of my time, and I do not see much excess in nature. Passenger pigeons once darkened the sky. Caribou stretched horizon to horizon. Salmon were so thick you could walk across water. This is not the coin of the twenty-first century. We measure our wealth by different standards.”
Nor is the author given to excess in her writing, and yet, after turning the last page, I felt strangely replete. More alive to the world, and richer, though not in the coin of our age but in a more subtle, dare I say spiritual, way. Air and angels. I'll never look at butterflies and moths the same way again.
Nor is the author given to excess in her writing, and yet, after turning the last page, I felt strangely replete. More alive to the world, and richer, though not in the coin of our age but in a more subtle, dare I say spiritual, way. Air and angels. I'll never look at butterflies and moths the same way again.
August 9, 2019
This compact and fairly rollicking book is a natural history of butterflies and of the scientists and collectors who have made them their life’s work. There are some 18,000 species and, unlike, say, beetles, they are generally pretty easy to tell apart because of their bold, colorful markings. Moth and butterfly diversity may well be a synecdoche for overall diversity, making them invaluable indicator species. Although the history of butterfly collecting was fairly familiar to me from Peter Marren’s Rainbow Dust, I still learned or was reminded of a lot, such as the ways you can tell moths and butterflies apart (and it’s not just about whether they fly in the night or the day). And who knew that butterfly rape is a thing?
The final third of the book was strongest for me, including a trip to London’s Natural History Museum; another to Costa Rica’s butterfly ranches, an example of successful ecotourism; and a nicely done case study of the El Segundo Blue butterfly, which was brought back from the brink of extinction by restoration of its southern California dunes habitat. Russell, a New Mexico-based author of novels and nonfiction, also writes about butterflies’ cultural importance: “No matter our religious beliefs, we accept the miracle of metamorphosis. One thing becomes another. … Butterflies wake us up.”
Other butterfly-themed books I have reviewed:
Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly by Sue Halpern
Ruins by Peter Kuper (a graphic novel set in Mexico, this also picks up on monarch migration)
Magdalena Mountain by Robert Michael Pyle (a novel about butterfly researchers in Colorado)
The final third of the book was strongest for me, including a trip to London’s Natural History Museum; another to Costa Rica’s butterfly ranches, an example of successful ecotourism; and a nicely done case study of the El Segundo Blue butterfly, which was brought back from the brink of extinction by restoration of its southern California dunes habitat. Russell, a New Mexico-based author of novels and nonfiction, also writes about butterflies’ cultural importance: “No matter our religious beliefs, we accept the miracle of metamorphosis. One thing becomes another. … Butterflies wake us up.”
Other butterfly-themed books I have reviewed:
Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly by Sue Halpern
Ruins by Peter Kuper (a graphic novel set in Mexico, this also picks up on monarch migration)
Magdalena Mountain by Robert Michael Pyle (a novel about butterfly researchers in Colorado)
February 8, 2017
I found this to be very easy to read, and very interesting. There was enough theoretical information to satisfy my research need, but lots of great stories about people who have contributed to butterfly collecting history. I especially enjoyed reading about the way that collecting has led to environmentally friendly new industries, and that communities are establishing sustainable farms to make sure that butterflies remain available to new generations of collectors.
August 15, 2024
98%
"You are weighty. You are filled with eggs. Your abdomen drags you toward the earth." (my new daily mantra)
This book was jam-packed with fascinating information about butterflies, while simultaneously being light-hearted and chuckle-inducing.
The only thing that would make this brilliant book better would be color pictures of all the butterflies reference by name throughout the book. That being said, it would probably take up a lot of space, so I understand why they wouldn't.
I think this may be the most quotes I've ever enjoyed from a book thus far:
" String theory suggest that there are more than four dimensions, perhaps ten in all [...] these dimensions, here but not here, exist outside our range of perception. Adding butterflies to your life is like adding another dimension [...] all this existed before, has always existed, but you were unaware. You didn't see. At various times and places, in winter, or on a busy street, the air is still and butterflies are impossible. Yet their presence remains, like one of those other ten dimensions. You've added this to your life."
"the eighteenth century was a period of transition. In its earlier years we can watch people playing with nature, treating it like a newly purchased toy. Later, as they become accustomed to the novelty and learn to react with less and less unease, we see their boldness grow. Eventually, as the century ends, we find them helplessly in love with it."
"Each stage is called an instar, and, like explorers in time and space, caterpillars move from instar to instar, usually five [...] typically, in most species, later instars are hairier, spinier, bristlier, and meaner-looking [...] the message is getting clearer: I'm not worth eating."
"Ants are so eager for this honeydew they will stroke the caterpillar over and over again [...] ants attending a metalmark solicit their new friend at least once a minute. When it grows tired of the attention, the caterpillar audibly taps the ground. Like scolded children, the ants stop-for a while."
"In 1979, England's Large Blue butterfly became extinct when the rabbits who ate the long grass in the West Country died from disease. With the rabbits gone, long grass outgrew he short grass preferred by wood ants and those patches of thyme where Large Blue females laid their eggs. A different species of ant now dominated the area. When they found a Large Blue caterpillar, they ate it."
"How long does a caterpillar live? Because madrone leaves have little nitrogen, a xiquipilchiuhpapalotl requires eight months to get all the protein it needs before pupation. The rare carnivorous caterpillar may require only three weeks. Flower- and fruit-eating caterpillars consume enough food in four weeks. The larva who eats leaves could need eight. On less nutritious grass, a caterpillar might take three months; on hard-to-digest roots, it may be twice that. In very cold climates, with short growing seasons, the larval stage will last two to three years."
"Many of the changes started taking place before pupation. The wings of a butterfly begin as early as the first larval stage, or instar, as thickening cells in the thoracic segment. these cells become two pouches called wing buds, or imaginal disks. By the last stage, the fifth instar, each pouch has folded in upon itself to make a four-layers structure corresponding the the future upper and lower surfaces of the adult wing."
"In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I made a pontifical declaration comparing the life of Christ to that of the caterpillar: Vermis quia reurrexit! The worm has risen again."
"An inexperienced blue jay who eats a Monarch will be seen retching, vomiting, jerking its head, fluffing its feathers, wiping its bill, and closing its eyes in the expression of a blue jay calling out to its deity."
"We love butterflies, in part because we can know them so easily. Most of the 18,000 species have unique wing patterns that distinguish them from all other species [...] butterflies make us feel smart."
"The male transfers his sperm in a thick-walled sac mostly made of proteins he acquired as a caterpillar, as well as other nutrients from nectar and puddling. This packet is the spermatophore, or sperm carrier, and it can be from 4 to 8 percent of the male's body weight."
"You are weighty, filled with eggs, and you are ready to lay this burden down."
"This is ecstasy, and behind the ecstasy is something else, which is hard to explain. It is like a momentary vacuum into which rushes all that I love. A sense of oneness with sun and stone."
"We like the abundance [...] we like to be overwhelmed, that Paleolithic thrill (without the danger) of being human in a world not dominated by humans."
"But I am a child of my time, and I do not see much excess in nature. Passenger pigeons once darkened the sky. Caribou stretched horizon to horizon. Salmon were so thick you could walk across water. This is not the coin of the twenty-first century. We measure our wealth by different standards."
"There is so much we don't know! [...] You could spend a week studying some obscure insect and you would then know more than anyone else on the planet. Our ignorance is profound."
"Some spiders build their webs in columns, towers of silk, catching and recatching the moth as it flutters free and up, free and up, until its wing scales are gone, and the bald wings are easily caught and held."
"Count up the mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, and fish species. Add them all together. There are still more moths."
"Because we are human, we probe the mystery. [...] Evolution expresses itself so generously, in so many forms, and we become obsessive ourselves, wanting to know them all, to own them all, to put them in order. Like the gods in our myths, we name the creatures of the world."
"You are weighty. You are filled with eggs. Your abdomen drags you toward the earth." (my new daily mantra)
This book was jam-packed with fascinating information about butterflies, while simultaneously being light-hearted and chuckle-inducing.
The only thing that would make this brilliant book better would be color pictures of all the butterflies reference by name throughout the book. That being said, it would probably take up a lot of space, so I understand why they wouldn't.
I think this may be the most quotes I've ever enjoyed from a book thus far:
" String theory suggest that there are more than four dimensions, perhaps ten in all [...] these dimensions, here but not here, exist outside our range of perception. Adding butterflies to your life is like adding another dimension [...] all this existed before, has always existed, but you were unaware. You didn't see. At various times and places, in winter, or on a busy street, the air is still and butterflies are impossible. Yet their presence remains, like one of those other ten dimensions. You've added this to your life."
"the eighteenth century was a period of transition. In its earlier years we can watch people playing with nature, treating it like a newly purchased toy. Later, as they become accustomed to the novelty and learn to react with less and less unease, we see their boldness grow. Eventually, as the century ends, we find them helplessly in love with it."
"Each stage is called an instar, and, like explorers in time and space, caterpillars move from instar to instar, usually five [...] typically, in most species, later instars are hairier, spinier, bristlier, and meaner-looking [...] the message is getting clearer: I'm not worth eating."
"Ants are so eager for this honeydew they will stroke the caterpillar over and over again [...] ants attending a metalmark solicit their new friend at least once a minute. When it grows tired of the attention, the caterpillar audibly taps the ground. Like scolded children, the ants stop-for a while."
"In 1979, England's Large Blue butterfly became extinct when the rabbits who ate the long grass in the West Country died from disease. With the rabbits gone, long grass outgrew he short grass preferred by wood ants and those patches of thyme where Large Blue females laid their eggs. A different species of ant now dominated the area. When they found a Large Blue caterpillar, they ate it."
"How long does a caterpillar live? Because madrone leaves have little nitrogen, a xiquipilchiuhpapalotl requires eight months to get all the protein it needs before pupation. The rare carnivorous caterpillar may require only three weeks. Flower- and fruit-eating caterpillars consume enough food in four weeks. The larva who eats leaves could need eight. On less nutritious grass, a caterpillar might take three months; on hard-to-digest roots, it may be twice that. In very cold climates, with short growing seasons, the larval stage will last two to three years."
"Many of the changes started taking place before pupation. The wings of a butterfly begin as early as the first larval stage, or instar, as thickening cells in the thoracic segment. these cells become two pouches called wing buds, or imaginal disks. By the last stage, the fifth instar, each pouch has folded in upon itself to make a four-layers structure corresponding the the future upper and lower surfaces of the adult wing."
"In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I made a pontifical declaration comparing the life of Christ to that of the caterpillar: Vermis quia reurrexit! The worm has risen again."
"An inexperienced blue jay who eats a Monarch will be seen retching, vomiting, jerking its head, fluffing its feathers, wiping its bill, and closing its eyes in the expression of a blue jay calling out to its deity."
"We love butterflies, in part because we can know them so easily. Most of the 18,000 species have unique wing patterns that distinguish them from all other species [...] butterflies make us feel smart."
"The male transfers his sperm in a thick-walled sac mostly made of proteins he acquired as a caterpillar, as well as other nutrients from nectar and puddling. This packet is the spermatophore, or sperm carrier, and it can be from 4 to 8 percent of the male's body weight."
"You are weighty, filled with eggs, and you are ready to lay this burden down."
"This is ecstasy, and behind the ecstasy is something else, which is hard to explain. It is like a momentary vacuum into which rushes all that I love. A sense of oneness with sun and stone."
"We like the abundance [...] we like to be overwhelmed, that Paleolithic thrill (without the danger) of being human in a world not dominated by humans."
"But I am a child of my time, and I do not see much excess in nature. Passenger pigeons once darkened the sky. Caribou stretched horizon to horizon. Salmon were so thick you could walk across water. This is not the coin of the twenty-first century. We measure our wealth by different standards."
"There is so much we don't know! [...] You could spend a week studying some obscure insect and you would then know more than anyone else on the planet. Our ignorance is profound."
"Some spiders build their webs in columns, towers of silk, catching and recatching the moth as it flutters free and up, free and up, until its wing scales are gone, and the bald wings are easily caught and held."
"Count up the mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, and fish species. Add them all together. There are still more moths."
"Because we are human, we probe the mystery. [...] Evolution expresses itself so generously, in so many forms, and we become obsessive ourselves, wanting to know them all, to own them all, to put them in order. Like the gods in our myths, we name the creatures of the world."
July 15, 2012
Fascinating. Obviously a book for someone with more than a passing interest in butterflies but two chapters in particular on survival strategies from egg to butterfly and nature's use of colouration were so absorbing that I think even someone who just gives a butterfly a second glance would find interesting and informative. I found myself thinking, 'wow, how amazing!' quite a lot in those particular chapters. Some passages were so fascinating I am going to photocopy them (library book) as I know I will want to refresh my memory at some later date. Structurally confusing at times but overall very easy to understand without any prior knowledge of butterflies and a good read. Every time I see a butterfly from now on I shall look at it with renewed respect and remember that each one of them is a survivor and most of its siblings will have fallen victim to parasites, predators or even the scheming plant on which it was laid as an egg. You will have to read it to find out how even plants can be out to get butterflies!
June 24, 2024
a lovely read that had me underlining philosophical yet simple truths practically every other page! I am no Lepidoptera specialist but I feel that after reading this, perhaps I have a little more context for those fluttering objects that appear so frail but are, in last observation, one of the strongest; adapting, morphing, and subsequently thriving, butterflies truly are an optimistic reflection of the human experience.
July 4, 2023
There is so much to learn about butterflies; their diversity and intricacies are fascinating. I wasn't completely gripped with the writing style here, somehow, but it was definitely an interesting book.
July 25, 2012
I bought this despite not being terribly interested in butterflies because I had been so impressed with another book by Russell, Anatomy of a Rose, despite not being terribly interested in flowers. I was not disappointed.
The mimicry or camouflage that works so well against a bird may not work at all against the predatory stinkbug, which has been known to stalk its prey for as long as an hour. Some caterpillars do the obvious. They drop off the leaf and hope for a soft landing. Or they spin out a thread of silk, drop like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, and dangle from the lifeline while they wait for the predator to leave.
Some parasitic wasps wait, too, for their prey to climb back up. Some wasps slowly walk down the silken line. Some wasps slowly reel in that line...
Aieee! Russell's writing can be lovely and lyrical, but this is not a book that forgets just how brutal nature can be. (I have always been horrified by parasitic wasps, and Russell helpfully added some details on them that I had not known before-- details beyond what I'm quoting-- that freaked me the hell out all over again.)
The book is primarily about butterflies themselves, not about human-butterfly interactions, but there are a couple brief but sharply drawn incidents involving the latter: the Great White Butterfly-Hunter musing in his diary over whether he was losing some respect for human life, while his "native bearers" were dropping dead on a hunt; the modern college student, too sedentary to compete with his friends who rushed madly about with butterfly nets, sitting down at his leisure beside a tree and learning the life cycle of a species.
Recommended, as is Anatomy of a Rose, whether or not you care about butterflies or roses.
The mimicry or camouflage that works so well against a bird may not work at all against the predatory stinkbug, which has been known to stalk its prey for as long as an hour. Some caterpillars do the obvious. They drop off the leaf and hope for a soft landing. Or they spin out a thread of silk, drop like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, and dangle from the lifeline while they wait for the predator to leave.
Some parasitic wasps wait, too, for their prey to climb back up. Some wasps slowly walk down the silken line. Some wasps slowly reel in that line...
Aieee! Russell's writing can be lovely and lyrical, but this is not a book that forgets just how brutal nature can be. (I have always been horrified by parasitic wasps, and Russell helpfully added some details on them that I had not known before-- details beyond what I'm quoting-- that freaked me the hell out all over again.)
The book is primarily about butterflies themselves, not about human-butterfly interactions, but there are a couple brief but sharply drawn incidents involving the latter: the Great White Butterfly-Hunter musing in his diary over whether he was losing some respect for human life, while his "native bearers" were dropping dead on a hunt; the modern college student, too sedentary to compete with his friends who rushed madly about with butterfly nets, sitting down at his leisure beside a tree and learning the life cycle of a species.
Recommended, as is Anatomy of a Rose, whether or not you care about butterflies or roses.
May 30, 2017
I've always found butterflies to be beautiful and unique creatures. To read about them, learn about them, they are so much more than that. They show how in life there are miracles happening everyday. There are so many species and so many of each, different families.
I learned a lot of stuff in this book. I'm glad I randomly decided to look up if my school library had anything about butterflies. :)
Butterflies are air and angles.
I learned a lot of stuff in this book. I'm glad I randomly decided to look up if my school library had anything about butterflies. :)
Butterflies are air and angles.
July 18, 2011
It's not utterly useless, and it's readable enough, but this book should have much more information than it does and it often comes off as rather condescending. It reads too much like a book intended for children or illiterate housewives.
June 3, 2024
2.5 ⭐️ — This book has significant issues that detract from my enjoyment of it as a reader, and I most likely will never read it again. I would only recommend it to people who already have an interest in the subject matter. All that being said — the book does have some redeeming qualities, such as some (not all) beautiful prose (such as: “we are storytelling animals. The peak is high and white with snow. Who has not seen God in the mountains?”) and a wealth of information about Lepidoptera, scientific, cultural, historical and otherwise.
My main complaints can be summed up as issues with the narrative voice & the author’s writing style, and organizational/composition issues.
I hate to be so harsh but I truly feel that the author attempted to write in a very poetic style that was too frequently beyond her capacity, with some prose feeling very purple, and to marry that style with scientific fact. To me, this was not successful and instead created confusion and disharmony, the effect of which was jarring and disruptive to both comprehension and enjoyment of the text. Sometimes, the author did not adequately distinguish between what was actual scientific fact/consensus and what was the author’s poetic (not factual) interpretation of a behavior, which felt irresponsible as it could lead the reader to come to an incorrect conclusion.
This text does not flow like water; it clatters like an intermittent rockslide. That is to say, there does not seem to be a consistent organization which unifies the ideas and contents and presents them neatly to the reader for an enjoyable, seamless reading experience; rather, ideas are clumsily chained, one after another, under the general theme of the chapter. The reader is thrown from one idea or reference or fact to another tangentially related idea or reference or fact (often, with at least one of which contributing nothing but clutter). I literally wrote in my notes that the text was, at times, nearly unreadable for me due to the organizational and structural issues. Many similes or literary/historic/media references felt so out of place and truly pointless (usually due to just dropping them in without providing adequate context or explanation to solidify the connection between the subject matter and the reference) that I felt irritated by the derailment. Unfortunately, many (potentially very interesting!) ideas presented were appallingly underdeveloped, and dropped on the page without much care.
The narrative style itself is also clunky and cumbersome, for reasons already described, but also because of random and confusing tense changes in the middle of presenting an account of a prominent figure’s life or a needless switch to second person perspective.
The reader experience would be massively improved if the text included more photos to facilitate immersion and understanding, as the average reader will not have the level of specialized knowledge and experience to fill in the blanks left by the text. The descriptions of species, behaviors, and locations are numerous but not descriptive enough to paint a complete picture for the reader. I truly believe that this text would be much more convincingly and effectively conveyed if it were not presented as a book but instead as a spoken presentation (or series of presentations) which would be supplemented with videos, primary texts, photos, or slideshows. Funnily enough, the formatting of the text even supports this — what should be included in a paragraph or isolated as a single sentence in its own paragraph was decided, seemingly, not by what makes sense organizationally but what would flow best if it were spoken aloud… almost like extended lecture notes, whose lack of sufficient detail or elaboration in many places in this text would be supplemented by loosely improvised additions during an actual lecture.
My main complaints can be summed up as issues with the narrative voice & the author’s writing style, and organizational/composition issues.
I hate to be so harsh but I truly feel that the author attempted to write in a very poetic style that was too frequently beyond her capacity, with some prose feeling very purple, and to marry that style with scientific fact. To me, this was not successful and instead created confusion and disharmony, the effect of which was jarring and disruptive to both comprehension and enjoyment of the text. Sometimes, the author did not adequately distinguish between what was actual scientific fact/consensus and what was the author’s poetic (not factual) interpretation of a behavior, which felt irresponsible as it could lead the reader to come to an incorrect conclusion.
This text does not flow like water; it clatters like an intermittent rockslide. That is to say, there does not seem to be a consistent organization which unifies the ideas and contents and presents them neatly to the reader for an enjoyable, seamless reading experience; rather, ideas are clumsily chained, one after another, under the general theme of the chapter. The reader is thrown from one idea or reference or fact to another tangentially related idea or reference or fact (often, with at least one of which contributing nothing but clutter). I literally wrote in my notes that the text was, at times, nearly unreadable for me due to the organizational and structural issues. Many similes or literary/historic/media references felt so out of place and truly pointless (usually due to just dropping them in without providing adequate context or explanation to solidify the connection between the subject matter and the reference) that I felt irritated by the derailment. Unfortunately, many (potentially very interesting!) ideas presented were appallingly underdeveloped, and dropped on the page without much care.
The narrative style itself is also clunky and cumbersome, for reasons already described, but also because of random and confusing tense changes in the middle of presenting an account of a prominent figure’s life or a needless switch to second person perspective.
The reader experience would be massively improved if the text included more photos to facilitate immersion and understanding, as the average reader will not have the level of specialized knowledge and experience to fill in the blanks left by the text. The descriptions of species, behaviors, and locations are numerous but not descriptive enough to paint a complete picture for the reader. I truly believe that this text would be much more convincingly and effectively conveyed if it were not presented as a book but instead as a spoken presentation (or series of presentations) which would be supplemented with videos, primary texts, photos, or slideshows. Funnily enough, the formatting of the text even supports this — what should be included in a paragraph or isolated as a single sentence in its own paragraph was decided, seemingly, not by what makes sense organizationally but what would flow best if it were spoken aloud… almost like extended lecture notes, whose lack of sufficient detail or elaboration in many places in this text would be supplemented by loosely improvised additions during an actual lecture.
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July 5, 2019CH1愛上蝴蝶
1.世界上最大的蝴蝶-巴布亞新幾內亞的亞歷山大鳳蝶
2.全世界已知的蝴蝶有18,000種，蛾類有147,000種。台灣發表的蝴蝶有435種，蛾類近4,000種。
CH2溫柔又強悍的毛毛蟲
1. 爬行技巧：
在毛蟲口器上方與中間，是一根管子，可以製造絲。多數幼蟲在往前行走時，會吐出一條黏答答的絲線，幫助牠們附著在爬行的表面；如此一來，牠們就不容易從數頁或細枝上震落。這條絲線也可以用來捲包樹葉、製造棲所、將蛹固著在它停駐的地方，或是織出難得一見的繭。
2.蛻皮過程：
孵化後的毛蟲開始吃東西、成長，一直到牠身體各節間的關節開始膨脹。這種膨脹活化了賀爾蒙，於是新的外骨骼就在舊的外骨骼內形成，而舊的會有部分被酵素消化掉。之後毛蟲會休眠，大口吸進空氣，讓牠的身體各節膨脹，於是舊皮就會在特定的裂縫處裂開，這隻毛蟲便蛻皮，進入下一個階段。
3.毛蟲成長特徵：
大多數的蝶種都越晚齡時，就越多毛、越多刺、毛越粗硬且看起來越兇惡。
4.毛蟲的移動：移動方式從尾部到頭部一波波收縮的，每一節會從地面上抬起，往前推向隔壁節，放鬆，再落回地面，這就是一步。
5.弄蝶做巢：
弄蝶的毛蟲會建造個別的葉片避難所，每個齡的幼蟲都會製造出一種特別構造。一齡和二齡的幼蟲會在葉緣咬出兩到半平行的缺口，像門的絞鏈一樣，讓葉片可以摺起，並且用絲穩住這個結構。三齡幼蟲會在葉緣咬出一個缺口，並捲起大部分的葉片，加起綁住。四齡和五齡的幼蟲，或是把大半樹葉朝中心捲起、固定，再不就是把兩片葉子綁成一個口袋，之後進到這個小房子(弄蝶的毛蟲會從樹葉屋裡用力彈射出蟲糞，遠可達五呎)
6.植物的自我保護：
(a)在毛蟲的生態中，若生產過多卵，便會出現同類互吃的現象：一齡幼蟲孵化後是找到什麼吃什麼，包括附近的卵和其他的一齡幼蟲。因此百香果樹藤長有類似卵的顆粒骨起，讓成蝶打消生產更多卵的念頭。
(b)構造是植物的第一道防線。一旦毛蟲開始吃食而破壞了植物的構造時，牠唾液中的化合物會被植物認出是某種形式的攻擊，於是整株植物拉起警報。隨即，逆發的賀爾蒙展開第二道防衛系統，可能包括新產生的毒素快速送往受損的葉片，同時毒素的化合物會減慢毛蟲消化植物的能力。有些植物還有第三道防線-發散化學訊號到空中，讓寄生蜜蜂或其牠捕食者感受到，跟隨植物的氣味而至，找到毛蟲並攻擊。受傷的植物也會施放化學物質，要蛾類避免再在植物上產更多的卵，蛾類因為她知道植物的防衛機制已經被可能跟牠競爭的幼蟲啟動了。而蝴蝶或許也得到類似的訊息。
CH3在外靠朋友
巴拿馬一種蜆蝶幼蟲吃的樹葉底部有一個小小蜜腺，蜜腺會製造出甜汁液，引來螞蟻守護著樹，不讓其他破壞性昆蟲近身。而螞蟻也會照顧蜆蝶的幼蟲，不讓牠們受到補食的黃蜂侵犯。原因來自於幼蟲長到三齡時已經長出許多新器官，當螞蟻搓揉牠們背部時，毛蟲背上就會出現一對腺體，並且會分泌一種清澄的液體，螞蟻就喝得很開心。
CH4變態
step.1幼蟲在一齡時，翅膀就出現了，也就是在胸節內的增厚細胞，而這些細胞會變成兩個囊袋，稱做翅芽或是器官芽。到了最後階段，也就是第五齡時，每個囊袋都會像內摺起，成為一個四層的構造，對應未來成蝶翅膀的上下表面。這時脈管的型態已確立，翅膀的藍圖也逐漸形成。
step.2其他的成蝶構造也會在幼蟲皮膚下開始生長。待毛蟲找到牠的棲息地點，在其化蛹前吊起身體時，這些新的成蝶部位浮上表面，比如觸角或是用來吸花蜜的針狀吻。這時毛蟲的顏色也會改變，鳳蝶會變成棕色。
step.3在化蛹的前半期，翅芽會一直長到成蝶翅膀的大小，只是被限制在蛹的狹小空間內，牠們翅膀表面被壓縮皺起，像是尚未吹氣的塑膠氣球。翅膀上的鱗片開始發展，色素也在合成，去填入已準備好的圖樣上，最後一些修飾會在出蛹前加上去。
step.4變硬的蛹中，基因開開關關。簡單的幼蟲眼睛消失，複雜的蝴蝶複眼從其他細胞長出來。腿拉長，還加上節肢。新的肌肉也發育出來，有些是為了飛翔。大肚子縮小了。性器官出現，繁殖所需的卵子與精子則會成熟。
step.5剛羽化的成蝶需要地心引力的幫忙，於是牠爬到能把翅膀垂下的地方，好讓牠將血液鼓進翅膀的血管，讓翅膀得以伸展、變硬。這時體重約是毛蟲食期的1/3。
=>一個裝黏液的囊袋在一片葉子上爬行，吃個不停。然後牠倒吊起來，變成別的東西，於是一隻蝴蝶誕生了，像是一小片藍天、一個花俏的圖案。美的姿態好像太不經意了。
CH5蝴蝶的智慧
1.蝴蝶需要花蜜裡的能量，而花蜜是花朵製造來吸引傳粉者的。當蝴蝶伸直牠的針狀吻去找花蜜時，花朵雄蕊上的花粉粒，也就是雄性生殖細胞，會沾到這隻昆蟲的身體，這些精子細胞因此被這昆蟲帶到另一朵花上，於是花粉就有機會附著在雌性的柱頭上，使這朵花的卵得以受精。
2.兩百種以上的開花植物會隨著年紀改變顏色，它們是在發出訊號給它們的傳粉者，告訴牠們自己沒有花蜜或是再過些時候就要沒有花蜜了。花朵表示自己已經受精的方式則是乾縮並且凋謝，但如果花朵仍然有繁殖變化，部分花朵或許仍然有花蜜可用。
CH7愛情故事
1.交配過程：
蝴蝶交配時，雌雄蝶會相對，雄蝶會顫抖，轉動觸角，張開翅膀，像扇子一樣拍動，然後把觸角垂放地上，將身體弓起，形成一個優雅鞠躬的姿態，再用前翅罩住雌蝶的觸角。牠用一種科學家稱之為「情粉」的化學費洛蒙，灑在雌蝶觸角的受器上。這時候雄蝶試圖用複部去碰觸雌蝶，如果情粉發揮作用，雌蝶就會舉起翅膀，放鬆。(但若雌蝶不想交配，則會繃緊，並且快速拍動翅膀)雄蝶身上兩片稱作把握器的辮膜會打開、露出性器，壓擠雌蝶的複部，使牠的性器露出，容易進入。
2.交配時間：
雄蝶的性器放入雌蝶性器中只要幾秒鐘，但交尾的時間差不多要1個小時。不過如尖脈粉蝶交尾可以長達20小時。
3.斑蝶交尾：
斑蝶科的雄蝶大部分都有藏在腹部的毛筆器，當看到雌蝶時，就會把毛筆器插進後翅的腺體中，收集自己的氣味。這時牠在雌蝶的下方和前方飛舞，展開牠的毛筆器，把粉撲在雌蝶身上。雄蝶攝取的生物鹼越多，發出的訊號也越強。而雄蝶化學花束包括一種飛行抑制劑和一種黏膠，可讓粉停留在雌蝶觸角上。在空中被求偶的雌蝶會飛降下來，而雄蝶用毛筆器撲粉的動作也持續著。如果雌蝶同意，就會闔起翅膀，讓雄蝶接近牠的腹部。雄蝶依偎過去，碰觸雌蝶的觸角，兩隻蝴蝶交尾。在交尾時，雄蝶會把精莢給了雌蝶，精莢包含牠之前攝取的生物鹼，雌蝶或許會利用這生物鹼來增強自己的毒性或是傳給卵來保護牠們。
4.精莢：
雄蝶會將精子送到精莢中，裡面主要是她在毛蟲階段獲得的蛋白質構成，還有來自花蜜以及吸水活動的養分。重量可達雄蝶體重的4%-8%。雌蝶就用這個結婚禮物在她找地方產卵時養活自己。某些蝶種中，雌蝶會需要精莢中的蛋白質來製造更多的卵。
5.交配衍生出來的不同策略：
在蝴蝶身上，時間最近的精子享有優先，後來者先。因此雄蝶的精莢越大越好，雌蝶等待再次交配的時間就越久，在被另一隻雄蝶的精子取代前用掉的機會越大。
(a)蛹期交配：如毒蝶屬的斑馬長翅蝶，雄蝶會嗅出雌蛹，等待年輕的雌蝶破蛹而出，甚至搶先第一個刺破蛹殼、伸入性器。
(b)封瓣：阿波羅絹蝶雌蝶性器外露，容易靠外力進入，在交尾後雄蝶會分泌出封瓣並黏在雌蝶腹部。而其雄蝶如針般尖銳的陰莖亦可去抓交尾過的雌蝶並試圖除去封瓣。會做封瓣的雄蝶就不會製造精莢，因為雌蝶已經不能移動腹部或控制內部構造來拒絕雄蝶。
=>大體而言，雌蝶希望能夠再次交配，如此可以收到更多的結婚禮物，並可替換掉衰敗的精子。而雄蝶則不希望雌蝶再去交配，因為新的精子會搶先自己的精子，故雄蝶就會演化出更有效的交尾栓，或是更大的精莢，或是兩者並行。
CH10蝴蝶新大陸
擬態：貝氏擬態是好吃的蝶種模擬難吃的蝶種，墨氏擬態是難吃的蝶種互相模擬。
(a)在貝氏擬態中，模擬者翅膀上的圖案比較容易會有重大的基因改變，使牠略像似被模擬者。而被模擬者則會試圖演化得與模擬者越不像越好。當滋味美妙的模擬者太多，被模擬者也很容易被吃下肚。
(b)在莫氏擬態中，所有難吃的模擬者都蒙其利，因為牠們強化了補食者對牠們的印象，於是被試嚐的類種就更少。
(c)貝氏擬態與莫氏擬態經常會結合，形成一個擬態環，也就是好吃與難吃的一組蝶種都有一種類似的圖樣。如果蝶種再以性別來區分的話，擬態會變得更複雜。在某些擬態中，某蝶種的雄蝶是非模擬者，但是多達4種雌蝶卻會模擬其他難吃蝶種，因此就會與4種不同的擬態環相連(雄蝶對於改變色彩圖樣或許具有抵抗力，因為牠們彼此之間利用色彩作為重要的訊號)。
1.世界上最大的蝴蝶-巴布亞新幾內亞的亞歷山大鳳蝶
2.全世界已知的蝴蝶有18,000種，蛾類有147,000種。台灣發表的蝴蝶有435種，蛾類近4,000種。
CH2溫柔又強悍的毛毛蟲
1. 爬行技巧：
在毛蟲口器上方與中間，是一根管子，可以製造絲。多數幼蟲在往前行走時，會吐出一條黏答答的絲線，幫助牠們附著在爬行的表面；如此一來，牠們就不容易從數頁或細枝上震落。這條絲線也可以用來捲包樹葉、製造棲所、將蛹固著在它停駐的地方，或是織出難得一見的繭。
2.蛻皮過程：
孵化後的毛蟲開始吃東西、成長，一直到牠身體各節間的關節開始膨脹。這種膨脹活化了賀爾蒙，於是新的外骨骼就在舊的外骨骼內形成，而舊的會有部分被酵素消化掉。之後毛蟲會休眠，大口吸進空氣，讓牠的身體各節膨脹，於是舊皮就會在特定的裂縫處裂開，這隻毛蟲便蛻皮，進入下一個階段。
3.毛蟲成長特徵：
大多數的蝶種都越晚齡時，就越多毛、越多刺、毛越粗硬且看起來越兇惡。
4.毛蟲的移動：移動方式從尾部到頭部一波波收縮的，每一節會從地面上抬起，往前推向隔壁節，放鬆，再落回地面，這就是一步。
5.弄蝶做巢：
弄蝶的毛蟲會建造個別的葉片避難所，每個齡的幼蟲都會製造出一種特別構造。一齡和二齡的幼蟲會在葉緣咬出兩到半平行的缺口，像門的絞鏈一樣，讓葉片可以摺起，並且用絲穩住這個結構。三齡幼蟲會在葉緣咬出一個缺口，並捲起大部分的葉片，加起綁住。四齡和五齡的幼蟲，或是把大半樹葉朝中心捲起、固定，再不就是把兩片葉子綁成一個口袋，之後進到這個小房子(弄蝶的毛蟲會從樹葉屋裡用力彈射出蟲糞，遠可達五呎)
6.植物的自我保護：
(a)在毛蟲的生態中，若生產過多卵，便會出現同類互吃的現象：一齡幼蟲孵化後是找到什麼吃什麼，包括附近的卵和其他的一齡幼蟲。因此百香果樹藤長有類似卵的顆粒骨起，讓成蝶打消生產更多卵的念頭。
(b)構造是植物的第一道防線。一旦毛蟲開始吃食而破壞了植物的構造時，牠唾液中的化合物會被植物認出是某種形式的攻擊，於是整株植物拉起警報。隨即，逆發的賀爾蒙展開第二道防衛系統，可能包括新產生的毒素快速送往受損的葉片，同時毒素的化合物會減慢毛蟲消化植物的能力。有些植物還有第三道防線-發散化學訊號到空中，讓寄生蜜蜂或其牠捕食者感受到，跟隨植物的氣味而至，找到毛蟲並攻擊。受傷的植物也會施放化學物質，要蛾類避免再在植物上產更多的卵，蛾類因為她知道植物的防衛機制已經被可能跟牠競爭的幼蟲啟動了。而蝴蝶或許也得到類似的訊息。
CH3在外靠朋友
巴拿馬一種蜆蝶幼蟲吃的樹葉底部有一個小小蜜腺，蜜腺會製造出甜汁液，引來螞蟻守護著樹，不讓其他破壞性昆蟲近身。而螞蟻也會照顧蜆蝶的幼蟲，不讓牠們受到補食的黃蜂侵犯。原因來自於幼蟲長到三齡時已經長出許多新器官，當螞蟻搓揉牠們背部時，毛蟲背上就會出現一對腺體，並且會分泌一種清澄的液體，螞蟻就喝得很開心。
CH4變態
step.1幼蟲在一齡時，翅膀就出現了，也就是在胸節內的增厚細胞，而這些細胞會變成兩個囊袋，稱做翅芽或是器官芽。到了最後階段，也就是第五齡時，每個囊袋都會像內摺起，成為一個四層的構造，對應未來成蝶翅膀的上下表面。這時脈管的型態已確立，翅膀的藍圖也逐漸形成。
step.2其他的成蝶構造也會在幼蟲皮膚下開始生長。待毛蟲找到牠的棲息地點，在其化蛹前吊起身體時，這些新的成蝶部位浮上表面，比如觸角或是用來吸花蜜的針狀吻。這時毛蟲的顏色也會改變，鳳蝶會變成棕色。
step.3在化蛹的前半期，翅芽會一直長到成蝶翅膀的大小，只是被限制在蛹的狹小空間內，牠們翅膀表面被壓縮皺起，像是尚未吹氣的塑膠氣球。翅膀上的鱗片開始發展，色素也在合成，去填入已準備好的圖樣上，最後一些修飾會在出蛹前加上去。
step.4變硬的蛹中，基因開開關關。簡單的幼蟲眼睛消失，複雜的蝴蝶複眼從其他細胞長出來。腿拉長，還加上節肢。新的肌肉也發育出來，有些是為了飛翔。大肚子縮小了。性器官出現，繁殖所需的卵子與精子則會成熟。
step.5剛羽化的成蝶需要地心引力的幫忙，於是牠爬到能把翅膀垂下的地方，好讓牠將血液鼓進翅膀的血管，讓翅膀得以伸展、變硬。這時體重約是毛蟲食期的1/3。
=>一個裝黏液的囊袋在一片葉子上爬行，吃個不停。然後牠倒吊起來，變成別的東西，於是一隻蝴蝶誕生了，像是一小片藍天、一個花俏的圖案。美的姿態好像太不經意了。
CH5蝴蝶的智慧
1.蝴蝶需要花蜜裡的能量，而花蜜是花朵製造來吸引傳粉者的。當蝴蝶伸直牠的針狀吻去找花蜜時，花朵雄蕊上的花粉粒，也就是雄性生殖細胞，會沾到這隻昆蟲的身體，這些精子細胞因此被這昆蟲帶到另一朵花上，於是花粉就有機會附著在雌性的柱頭上，使這朵花的卵得以受精。
2.兩百種以上的開花植物會隨著年紀改變顏色，它們是在發出訊號給它們的傳粉者，告訴牠們自己沒有花蜜或是再過些時候就要沒有花蜜了。花朵表示自己已經受精的方式則是乾縮並且凋謝，但如果花朵仍然有繁殖變化，部分花朵或許仍然有花蜜可用。
CH7愛情故事
1.交配過程：
蝴蝶交配時，雌雄蝶會相對，雄蝶會顫抖，轉動觸角，張開翅膀，像扇子一樣拍動，然後把觸角垂放地上，將身體弓起，形成一個優雅鞠躬的姿態，再用前翅罩住雌蝶的觸角。牠用一種科學家稱之為「情粉」的化學費洛蒙，灑在雌蝶觸角的受器上。這時候雄蝶試圖用複部去碰觸雌蝶，如果情粉發揮作用，雌蝶就會舉起翅膀，放鬆。(但若雌蝶不想交配，則會繃緊，並且快速拍動翅膀)雄蝶身上兩片稱作把握器的辮膜會打開、露出性器，壓擠雌蝶的複部，使牠的性器露出，容易進入。
2.交配時間：
雄蝶的性器放入雌蝶性器中只要幾秒鐘，但交尾的時間差不多要1個小時。不過如尖脈粉蝶交尾可以長達20小時。
3.斑蝶交尾：
斑蝶科的雄蝶大部分都有藏在腹部的毛筆器，當看到雌蝶時，就會把毛筆器插進後翅的腺體中，收集自己的氣味。這時牠在雌蝶的下方和前方飛舞，展開牠的毛筆器，把粉撲在雌蝶身上。雄蝶攝取的生物鹼越多，發出的訊號也越強。而雄蝶化學花束包括一種飛行抑制劑和一種黏膠，可讓粉停留在雌蝶觸角上。在空中被求偶的雌蝶會飛降下來，而雄蝶用毛筆器撲粉的動作也持續著。如果雌蝶同意，就會闔起翅膀，讓雄蝶接近牠的腹部。雄蝶依偎過去，碰觸雌蝶的觸角，兩隻蝴蝶交尾。在交尾時，雄蝶會把精莢給了雌蝶，精莢包含牠之前攝取的生物鹼，雌蝶或許會利用這生物鹼來增強自己的毒性或是傳給卵來保護牠們。
4.精莢：
雄蝶會將精子送到精莢中，裡面主要是她在毛蟲階段獲得的蛋白質構成，還有來自花蜜以及吸水活動的養分。重量可達雄蝶體重的4%-8%。雌蝶就用這個結婚禮物在她找地方產卵時養活自己。某些蝶種中，雌蝶會需要精莢中的蛋白質來製造更多的卵。
5.交配衍生出來的不同策略：
在蝴蝶身上，時間最近的精子享有優先，後來者先。因此雄蝶的精莢越大越好，雌蝶等待再次交配的時間就越久，在被另一隻雄蝶的精子取代前用掉的機會越大。
(a)蛹期交配：如毒蝶屬的斑馬長翅蝶，雄蝶會嗅出雌蛹，等待年輕的雌蝶破蛹而出，甚至搶先第一個刺破蛹殼、伸入性器。
(b)封瓣：阿波羅絹蝶雌蝶性器外露，容易靠外力進入，在交尾後雄蝶會分泌出封瓣並黏在雌蝶腹部。而其雄蝶如針般尖銳的陰莖亦可去抓交尾過的雌蝶並試圖除去封瓣。會做封瓣的雄蝶就不會製造精莢，因為雌蝶已經不能移動腹部或控制內部構造來拒絕雄蝶。
=>大體而言，雌蝶希望能夠再次交配，如此可以收到更多的結婚禮物，並可替換掉衰敗的精子。而雄蝶則不希望雌蝶再去交配，因為新的精子會搶先自己的精子，故雄蝶就會演化出更有效的交尾栓，或是更大的精莢，或是兩者並行。
CH10蝴蝶新大陸
擬態：貝氏擬態是好吃的蝶種模擬難吃的蝶種，墨氏擬態是難吃的蝶種互相模擬。
(a)在貝氏擬態中，模擬者翅膀上的圖案比較容易會有重大的基因改變，使牠略像似被模擬者。而被模擬者則會試圖演化得與模擬者越不像越好。當滋味美妙的模擬者太多，被模擬者也很容易被吃下肚。
(b)在莫氏擬態中，所有難吃的模擬者都蒙其利，因為牠們強化了補食者對牠們的印象，於是被試嚐的類種就更少。
(c)貝氏擬態與莫氏擬態經常會結合，形成一個擬態環，也就是好吃與難吃的一組蝶種都有一種類似的圖樣。如果蝶種再以性別來區分的話，擬態會變得更複雜。在某些擬態中，某蝶種的雄蝶是非模擬者，但是多達4種雌蝶卻會模擬其他難吃蝶種，因此就會與4種不同的擬態環相連(雄蝶對於改變色彩圖樣或許具有抵抗力，因為牠們彼此之間利用色彩作為重要的訊號)。
January 29, 2020
A nice, cozy book about butterflies from someone who is passionate about them. Fun stories, creative writing, my favorite script from this book is:
A bag of goo crawls on a leaf, obsessed with eating
It hangs upside down, It becomes something else
A butterfly is born
a bit of blue heaven, a jazzy design
It is a gesture of beauty almost too casual
A bag of goo crawls on a leaf, obsessed with eating
It hangs upside down, It becomes something else
A butterfly is born
a bit of blue heaven, a jazzy design
It is a gesture of beauty almost too casual
June 21, 2023
Joy. Pure joy. Loved every page. Written with a deft hand, the perfect blend of science and prose. Informative. Inspires you to take notice of the stunning natural world that surrounds you. Probably helps that I am in love with butterflies to begin with, but this book was magic. Highly recommended.
October 4, 2025
Adding butterflies to your life is like adding another dimension.
There are 18,000 species of known butterflies and 147,000 species of moths.
Caterpillars are obsessed with food. eat, grow, rest, molt.
Butterflies are extraordinary for their beauty and their survival.
Monarchs are the most famous migrating insect.
There are 18,000 species of known butterflies and 147,000 species of moths.
Caterpillars are obsessed with food. eat, grow, rest, molt.
Butterflies are extraordinary for their beauty and their survival.
Monarchs are the most famous migrating insect.
May 14, 2017
Informative and poetic. Russell clearly has a passion for her subject and writes with clear prose. I learned a lot about butterflies and the folks who study them, along with many historical curiosities about our winged friends. The notes and bibliography at the end are excellent.
April 9, 2021
I really enjoyed learning about butterflies from this book! The information is written in a way that is easily accesible. It's a bit melodramatic at times, and more poetic than scientific. Overall, a good book to read in order to relax and connect with nature.
July 21, 2021
Interesting natural history in the first half. I thought the organization would clarify itself, but the book went meandering on through its less enjoyable second half. The very frequent quirky/poetic remarks are nice occasionally.
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February 2, 2020A real page-turner, I couldn't put it down!
June 22, 2023
I love the way she writes. This is my second book of hers and I can't wait to read more. The most brutal truths written as if it were a poem.
December 5, 2023
I really enjoyed how this book was written!
May 17, 2024
A solid scientific overview of butterflies. Caterpillar survival tactics. Migration. Egg-laying and mating strategies. how their coloration works. Mimicry. Worth reading if you like the subject.
February 17, 2025
This is a non-fiction book that reads like a literary fiction/ poetry about butterflies that contains actual facts about butterflies, whether that be the scientific or historical.
April 25, 2025
Not my cup of tea. Bored until half way through I did enjoy the storytelling in the second half of the book.
August 19, 2012
Russell is not kidding about an obsession with butterflies. She is passionately, head-over-heels in love with them. It often comes across as a strange, almost Mr. Ripley-like love, too. Left alone in the collection room of London's Natural History Museum, she fantasizes about breaking the rules and releasing the pinned tropical butterflies from their drawers; watching them rise into the air and fill the room with color. She frequently imagines herself (or, rather, the reader) as a butterfly, which at times is pretty awkward ("You are weighty. You are filled with eggs. Your abdomen drags you toward the earth"). She returns to images of a collector in the tropics "leaping naked in the jungle" after a prized insect.
Her writing style is Hemingway-esque: extremely short sentences, sometimes lyrical, sometimes just abrupt. Personally, I prefer authors taking a longer route to say things, so this didn't really work for me.
But, outside of the occasional weirdness and clipped writing style, this book does provide tons of stories and fascinating information about every facet of butterflies and our interactions with them (studying, naming, collecting, conserving, selling). I enjoyed the first few chapters, which detail the harrowing lives of caterpillars (and pupae) en route to becoming butterflies. Everything wants to eat them, and they have developed many strategies for avoiding this. The chapter on butterfly sex (which includes "love dust," rape, "chastity belts," and "mating plugs") is somewhat disturbing but also pretty interesting. The studies demonstrating that butterflies can quickly learn after just 10 flower visits which colors provide the most nectar and adapt their behavior accordingly, and that individual butterflies exhibit different habits (personalities?), were amazing. I also loved the story of two men from very different walks of life who ended up dedicating their lives to conservation of two imperiled butterfly species and their habitat in L.A.
Her writing style is Hemingway-esque: extremely short sentences, sometimes lyrical, sometimes just abrupt. Personally, I prefer authors taking a longer route to say things, so this didn't really work for me.
But, outside of the occasional weirdness and clipped writing style, this book does provide tons of stories and fascinating information about every facet of butterflies and our interactions with them (studying, naming, collecting, conserving, selling). I enjoyed the first few chapters, which detail the harrowing lives of caterpillars (and pupae) en route to becoming butterflies. Everything wants to eat them, and they have developed many strategies for avoiding this. The chapter on butterfly sex (which includes "love dust," rape, "chastity belts," and "mating plugs") is somewhat disturbing but also pretty interesting. The studies demonstrating that butterflies can quickly learn after just 10 flower visits which colors provide the most nectar and adapt their behavior accordingly, and that individual butterflies exhibit different habits (personalities?), were amazing. I also loved the story of two men from very different walks of life who ended up dedicating their lives to conservation of two imperiled butterfly species and their habitat in L.A.
July 14, 2017
There is some science you simply shouldn't read while you're eating lunch. I learned way more about frass over food than I wanted to.
One chapter was incredibly touching, a sparely written timeline about the lives of two men who are obsessed with the butterflies of coastal California. This chapter is worth the whole book. Unfortunately, this is also the chapter where she used "glamorous southern California" and "El Segundo" in the same paragraph.
In the end, I'm not obsessed with butterflies.
One chapter was incredibly touching, a sparely written timeline about the lives of two men who are obsessed with the butterflies of coastal California. This chapter is worth the whole book. Unfortunately, this is also the chapter where she used "glamorous southern California" and "El Segundo" in the same paragraph.
In the end, I'm not obsessed with butterflies.
July 10, 2023
When beginning this book I figured I would be learning a lot about butterflies, which I did. What I didn't figure was I would be learning a lot about history. That I'd be reading about people and places with rich tales, cultural insights, and some of the very potent ways butterflies impact lives, villages, or even nations. How a pretty insect can fuel economy, how it can act as a catalyst to great successes in natural conservation. I learned all of these things and enjoyed the process.
Very informative. Very beautifully written. Very pleasant to read.
Very informative. Very beautifully written. Very pleasant to read.
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