168
ESA BULLETIN
lication manual. In fact, the relatively low price of the
volume encourages its use in a laboratory course with
other books or reprints of original sources that can supply the eYolutionary framework necessary for comprehending the immense diversity of insects.
A more important limitation of the book, but one
shared by most other such general compendia of keys, is
its restriction to adult insects. Particularly for orders with
aquatic immatures like Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, nymphal stadia are quite well
known and of great taxonomic value. Keys to the immatures of such groups would have completed this otherwise outstanding and comprehensive guide to knowing
the insects.
CHARLES
S. HENRY
Biological Sciences Group
Uni •.. of ConnectiC1/t
Storrs 06268
Vol. 25, no. 2
1979
Thus fer some problems of great extent and duration,
manipulative modeling is a needed, effective approach.
But many environmental impact studies address smaller
issues where funds are more modest and the time frame
in which a decision must be reached shorter. Under these
circumstances the value of manipulative modeling is considerably reduced.
Knowing how fast or slow to focus an impact study
down to particular points is thus a key feature in doing
quality environmental impact assessment work. It is this
aspect that Ms. Ward treats too briefly and does not explicitly identify as an important step in the process. The
reader is left with the impression that manipulative modeling is always appropriate regardless of the size or duration of the study. Correcting this misplaced emphasis,
adding photographs, and reducing the repetition of general ecological and statistical theory would do much to
improve the quality of the book.
Roy VANDRIESCHE
Dept. of Entvmology
Univ. of Mass.
Amherst 01002
BIOLOGICAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTSTUDIES,Diana V.
Ward, 1978, Academic Press, Inc. N.Y. 157 pp.
$14.50.
In this book Ms. Ward develops her ideas on how best
to conduct environmental impact studies. Her methodmanipulative modeling-is contrasted to other current
approaches such as "the busy taxonomist" and "the information broker." Ms. Ward's thesis is that to correctly assess potential environmental impacts requires
more than merely surveying the existing fauna and flora
at the site, i.e., the "busy taxonomist" approach, or
searching library records to compile existing studies on
similar areas, i.e., the "information broker" approach.
The author advocates methods well known in ecology
and in insect pest management, i.e., building models to
describe systems and then conducting field and laboratory experiments to assess the accuracy and reality of the
models.
With the book's basic thesis there is no argument.
However, the actual writing leaves much to be desired.
Overall, the style is dense and abstract. Although short,
the book attempts to recapitulate a great deal of ecological theory, sampling methodology, and statistics-most
of which is covered at greater length, more effectively,
elsewhere. The book is under-illustrated in that it makes
no use of photographs. Careful use of photographs could
have lightened the text considerably and contributed toward easier, more rapid absorption of the content by
readers. Chapter 6, in which actual case histories are discussed, would have been more effective if placed after
Chapter 1 rather than near the end of the book.
Besides the style problem discussed above, the book
fails to achieve a balance in one other important area.
Ms. Ward stresses the desirability of manipulative modeling, but fails to put her method into perspective relative to the time and money available to conduct any given
study. Variation in funding and available time willstrongly
influence the usefulness of manipulative modeling as a
study method. The problem is not unlike what Ray Smith
has called "The IPM dilemma in developing countries"
(Can. Entomol. Bull. 10, p. 86-94, 1979) in which complex IPM systems are found to be inappropriate to the
agricultural pest control resources actually available in
many poorer countries.
BIOCHEMISTRY
OF INSECTS,
ed. by M. Rockstein, 1978.
Academic Press, New York, San Francisco, London.
649 pp. $29.50.
In recent years several volumes have appeared in print
which laid claim to being the bible on the biochemistry of
insects. This book is the latest in that series, and, like
most of its predecessors, falls far short of fulfilling the
promise implied by its ambitious title. What it does provide is a series of essays on widely divergent topics, the
sum of which fails to provide anything like an integrated
whole. In view of this situation, it is difficult to understand the editor's preface statement that this volume is
an updating of Gilmour's earlier book. Clearly it is not.
The subject areas covered are quite different, and Rockstein's volume does not employ a systematic approach as
did Gilmour's primordial work.
The chapter headings and authors for the book under
review are as follows: I The functions of carbohydrates
in insect life processes by G. M. Chippendale, 2 Functional role of lipids in insects by R. G. H. Downer, 3
Functional role of proteins by M. Agosin, 4 Protein synthesis in relation to cellular activation and deactivation
by P. S. Chen, 5 The chemistry of insect cuticle by A. G.
Richards, 6 Insect biochromes: their chemistry and role
by A. E. Needham, 7 Biochemistry of insect hormones
and insect growth regulators by L. M. Riddiford and J.
W. Truman, 8 Chemical control of behavior-intraspecific by N. Weaver, 9 Chemical control of behavior-interspecific by N. Weaver, to Chemical control of insects by
pheromones by W. L. Roelofs, 11 Biochemical defenses
in insects by M. S. Blum, 12 The biochemistry of toxic
action of insecticides by R. D. O'Brien, 13 Detoxication
mechanisms in insects by W. C. Dauterman and E. Hodgson, and 14 Chemical genetics and evolution by F. J. Ayala.
With a few exceptions these chapters are well and authoratively written. li nfortunately, the material presented is often much more physiological or chemical in
nature than it is biochemical. For the most part, this is a
reflection of the state of the art in those areas. Several of
the authors have lamented the paucity of biochemical information. Hopefully, calling attention to this situation