Subject: Re: western (U.S.) moths

From: Stuart Wilson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 21:58:43 -0700

There has been a lot of discussion recently on the need for a field guide
for moths of the western U.S.  Perhaps Charlie Covell, or for that
matter any other writer, should make a list of possible buyers.  A
sign-up sheet for future information could be put out at the major ent.
events, such as the insect show in L.A. in May.

If sufficient interest is there, such a list would help convince your
publisher.

Stuart Wilson
Santa Barbara, CA

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From: Ernest Williams <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 10:31:10 -0400

I've encouraged Charlie privately and do so publicly now as well to produce
a field guide that includes western N.A. moths.  There are a lot of us who
want one.  I prefer a guide for the western U.S. rather than one for all of
North America because it may be hard to do justice to all North American
moths in a single volume.  But I'll take whatever gets published...

The average sales for a book in print is widely stated to be only 3000
copies.  While field guides vastly exceed that volume, they probably have a
lower profit margin, and a publisher may hesitate because overall there
already are a lot of different field guides on the market.  But not to
moths.  There certainly is a market for such a book: it's an open niche (no
competitors), there's a lot of current interest in butterflies (and moths),
and that interest is increasing rapidly with expanding environmental
awareness.

In the meantime, what does one use?  Here's what I know about, with their
limitations.  We're talking about FIELD GUIDES, so I'm excluding technical
reports to limited groups or friendly neighborhood moth experts.

Covell.  F.G. to Moths of Eastern N. Am.  (It's obviously for the East,
though it helps a lot in raising or narrowing down western possibilities.)

Holland.  The Moth Book.  (out-of-date taxonomy, incomplete, not always
easy to use to identify specimens, but it's a field guide that covers the
West.)

(series).  Moths of America North of Mexico (MONA).  (large, technical
series; excellent but can't be used as field guides; incomplete and will
remain so for decades; expensive and not widely available.)

(series).  Moths of Western North America, Distributions.  (from Dept.
Ent., Colo. St. Univ.; range maps only - not field guides; available only
for Saturniidae and Sphingidae; not widely available.)

Golden Guide to Butterflies and Moths.  (extremely limited; good as an
introduction but not as a field guide.)

Is there anything else that should be mentioned?

Ernest