Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs

At last, a readable book about insects! Beekeeper Hubbell ( A Country Year ) discourses on familiar, if not widely loved, creatures. Midges, silverfish, katydid s and water striders, among others, come into her purview and occasion talks with scientists (she notes that she has never had a short conversation with an entomologist). Hubbell reports on her participation in an annual butterfly count in Wyoming and tells of collecting camel crickets in the Ozarks. Examining the commerce in pest-eating ladybugs, ordered from California by gardeners across the U.S., she explains that these insects will usually fly away when transported to a different locale. A chapter on bravo bees (aka ``killer bees'') suggests they have been unjustly maligned and that many actually invigorate strains of the American bees. Illustrations. Author tour. (Apr.)