This is probably *the* book on British and Irish orthopteroid insects:
Orthoptera, Dictyoptera, Dermaptera and Phasmida. In plain English:
Grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, earwigs and stick-insects!
An extensive 65-page introduction covers life history, morphology, courtship, predators and parasites, collection, rearing and culturing, etc. There's even a section on how to record orthopteran sounds! The appendices are equally interesting, including lists of outstanding sites. The New Forest and the Dorset Heathlands leads the way with 24 species, but if you're ever stuck on the island of Jersey, don't worry, 19 species to find!
The main part of the book is, of course, the species presentations, which are extensive: Description, life history and behaviour, song, habitat, distribution and status (plus range maps). Colour plates are at the back of book.
I was particularly fascinated by the stick-insects. It turns out that all of the species found in Britain are "aliens" from New Zealand or India. The authors claim that somebody deliberately bred and implanted the Unarmed Stick-Insect in Western Cornwall back in 1982. The perpetrators name isn't given.
"Grashoppers and Allied Insects" deserve five stars.
This book also has a companion, "A sound guide to the Grashoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland" ISBN 0946589224. It comes with commentary by David Ragge, the grand old man of British orthopteran research.
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