Under The Microscope

SOUTHLAND SHELLS by Lloyd Esler; Lloyd Esler, 1999; 28 pp; $5 (available from esler@southnet.co.nz)
COMMON SEASHELLS OF NEW ZEALAND and
COMMON FERNS AND FERN ALLIES, by Brian Parkinson; Reed Books, 1999; 105pp; $14.95 each
INSECTS & OTHER LAND INVERTEBRATES FLIPGUIDE, by Andrew Crowe; Penguin, 2000; $19.95

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde

The holidays are a great time to get out and about and try out these handy guides to a variety of fauna and flora.

Lloyd Esler's very reasonably priced Southland Shells may concentrate on what's available round his home district, but many of the items in his black-and-white sketches will be familiar to folks further north. One unusual feature which I appreciated was the inclusion of fossil shells, which gives a nice sense of just how long these things have been inhabiting our shores.

The colour photos of the Mobil Nature Series Seashells book aid in identifying what you've picked up, though you'd need to look further afield for any information beyond the brief notes on range and habitat.

There's more information in the Ferns book, with the often-intriguing notes: filmy fern or piripiri (Hymenophyllum sanguinolentum) apparently smells like blood if crushed (which explains the Latin name). This book covers the most common 65 ferns of the 200 which are found in our country, so you've got a fairly good chance of figuring out just which fern you have, though it might take an extended period of browsing through the photos.

I've enjoyed Andrew Crowe's other FlipGuides and the Insects one is a nice addition to the collection. I'd consider myself fortunate to come across a giant weta longer than my hand, and not-so-fortunate to encounter an Avondale spider. This robust card of clear lifesize photos of beetles, butterflies, spiders, slugs and insects means we can now put a name to the latest creepy-crawly found scuttling down the hallway.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.