Worth waiting for

OK, I admit it. I'm a geek. About a year ago, I tried to set some kind of world record here at Amazon, posting 84 cranky reviews in a row. I also expressed my great sorrow and disappointment that our favourite vendor wasn't selling the 15-volume mastodon work "Noctuidae Europaeae". I mean, imagine what I could have done with *them*? However, it seems the gods have been smiling at me this week, because guess what showed up at the Amazon horizon?

Yes, you guessed it: "Noctuidae Europaeae. Vol 4. Hadeninae I." by Hermann Hacker, László Ronkay and Márton Hreblay, published by Entomological Press at Soroe, Denmark in 2002. A unique Hungarian-Danish co-production, I'm sure. And in the English language, to boot! I mean, my Hungarian *is* a bit rusty...

The in-house character of the book becomes readily apparent already at the dust jacket, which shows a painted self-portrait of a 20 year old Hermann Hacker back in 1971, and a photo of an 18 year old László Ronkay from 1973. The self-styled "Editor-in-chief", Michael Fibiger, starts off the preface with the words: "Hadeninae I - Finally! The editorial board and authors are pleased to present this long-awaited volume in the series Noctuidae Europaeae, scarcely a year after the publication of the previous volume, Hadeninae II. Although in preparation for many years, part of the delay has been waiting for the completion of revisions of large genera and tribes in the old sense Hadeninae, which of course include large numbers of extra-limital, non-European species".

Of course.

I also note that the encyclopaedia is funded by...wait for it...the Carlsberg Foundation. Carlsberg really is the best beer in the world.

So what's all the fuzz and buzz about, then? What are the Noctuidae? Well, they are...you know, moths. Owlet-moths, to be exact. Yes, we are talking about a 15-volume encyclopaedia covering all species of owlet-moths found in Europe. And this is all bankrolled by the same guys who gave us Danish ale! :D

Of course, this makes the potential readership of "Noctuidae Europaeae" rather narrow, and I don't think the present volume is an exception to the rule. "Hadeninae I" covers the tribes Hadenini and Mythimnini. Causal readers better get to learn fancy-sounding words such as subgenus, paneremic, nominotypical, turanoeremic, saccular, fascia, crenate and synonymy. All this just from the first entry, about the truly exquisite owlet-moth Hadula (Hadula) sabolurum pulverata (Bang-Haas 1907). It's only been found once in Europe, at the Maltese Islands, but is included anyway. Incidentally, in this book, Europe really means Europe, all the way to the Urals and the Caspian Sea.

Each species presentation contains sections on Taxonomy, Notes, Diagnosis, Bionomics and Distribution. Range maps are included. The photographic colour plates show the poor moths in pinned, stiffed, unnatural position. Yepp, it's a science books! Let me guess. The moths were "sugared" with Carlsberg beer? There are also plates showing genitalia figures, for identification purposes only.

Obviously, a tour de force of this kind is bound to be based on some really obscure source materials. Thus, there is Beshkov's 1995 article "A contribution to the knowledge of the Lepidoptera fauna of Albania. Some findings of a collection trip in September 1993", published in "Atalanta", issue 26. Or how about the 970 pages long work by E. Berio, "Noctuidae I. Generalità Hadeninae Cuculiinae. Fauna d'Italia. Lepidoptera", published in Bologna by Edizione Calderini. Can I review it, please? But the real scorcher is surely a Swedish book from 1840 by one J W Zetterstedt, "Insecta Lapponica" at 1,140 pages sharp. I didn't even knew there were that many bugs in Lapland!

For the general reader, this is a no-no, especially at the price of 235 dollars just for this single volume, but if you are an owlet-mothing geek, an associate professor of entomology in Albania, or an insane Amazon reviewer, "Noctuidae Europaeae" probably is a must-have.

Just don't tell me I didn't warn you!