INSECT MIGRATION. By C.B. Williams. Collins New Naturalist No. 36. Hardback First Edition.

1958 1st edition. 8vo (150 x 222mm). Ppxiv,235,v[ads]. Colour and b/w photograph plates, b/w illustrations, maps and bibliography. Green buckram, spine titled in gilt.

"This is a pioneer book, a milestone in the progress of biology. Only in recent years have scientists begun to realise the significance of the widespread distribution of the migratory habit throughout the world. Dr Williams's own personal observations and adventures have played a fundamental part in demonstrating the extent to which insects migrate. His opportunities of studying the problem in remote corners of the world - such as British Guiana, Costa Rica, Egypt, Tanganyika and the Pyrenees - make the book as exciting as a detective story. For [this book] deals with the subject which is a world-wide biological problem on an international basis. From 1932 to 1955, C.B. Williams was chief entomologist at the Rothamstead Experimental Station. This book is the distillation of a subject which has occupied him for nearly the whole of his life". Chapters include: A brief history of the study of insect migration; Migration among British butterflies; Butterfly migration in other parts of the world; The migration of moths; The migration of locusts, dragonflies, ladybirds and other insects; The nature of the migratory flights; The problem of orientation and the direction of flight; The problem of the return flight; A century of immigration of butterflies and moths into Britain; Problems of abundance; Problems of geographical distribution; Other problems of insect migration; The relation of the migrations of insects to those of other animals; The use of marked insects in the study of migration; The collection and study of information; Books and publications on insect migration. An appendix gives the numbers of immigrant butterflies and moths recorded in Britain each year from 1850-1955. New Naturalist No. 36.