butterfly field guides

[Leino Oli]

Howdy Dunrie,
I've got  a bunch of guides, and the ones I used the most when I was first
getting interested in this (for quick, simple, reference) are:
1: The Audubon Society field guide to North American Butterflies.  It's handy
for the amateur in finding the most common butterflies, and getting the quick
info your looking for.  This is one of the books that helped fuel my interest
in leps from an early age.
 2: The Audubon field guide to North American Insects and Spiders.  This one
has some of the most commonly seen moths in it. (Along with quite a bit on
common insects & spiders)
3: American Nature Guides: Butterflies of North America. ISBN# 0-8317-6963-7
This book uses hand colored illustrations as apposed to photographs, but it is
remarkably acurate.
4: Eyewitness Handbooks: Butterflies and Moths. ISBN# 1-56458-062-8  This one
is really nicely laid out with very good info on about 500 species
internationally.  It has NorthAmerica's common stuff but also lets you glimpse
at some exotic stuff!
5:  Simon and Schuster's guide to Insects. ISBN# 0-671-25014-0  Just another
handy pocket field guide
6:  THE BIBLE!.....The Butterflies of North America by James A. Scott  ISBN#
0-8047-2013-4  Serious info on almost EVERY butterfly in NorthAmerica.
These books are but just a few of the hundreds available.  If you're not an
entomologist (yet) give them a shot.
Don't discount moths. Remeber,..there are about 170 000 known species of leps
on this planet! (With an unimaginable amount yet to be discovered/named!!)  Of
this number, aproximately 10% are butterflies.  The rest are Moths!
Enjoy! And good luck!

Another amateur bug-nut,
Leino Ole               estoboy at sympatico.ca