Crickets

I previously posted an ironic mock review of this book. Now I´m ready to review it for real!

The book´s title is "Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States" by John L Capinera, Ralph D Scott and Thomas J Walker. It was published in 2004. It really is a field guide to Caelifera and Ensifera (and hence Orthoptera), describing about one third of the species found in the United States (or perhaps North America minus Mexico - the book isn´t entirely clear on this point). 

After a detailed general introduction to orthopterans, the reader can immerse himself in species presentations, which include drawings of cerci, supra-analplates and furculae. There are also diagrams of the "song" of some orthopterans. Color plates showing most of the described species form a separate section in the middle of the volume. 

I have to say that orthopterans have extremely long and colorless vernacular names. How about glassy-winged toothpick grasshopper, leather-colored bird grasshopper, and common short-winged katydid. Let me guess, it´s common, short-winged and indeed a katydid? But OK, I did find some names that were entertaining: mischievous bird grashopper, Mormon cricket, differential grasshopper, ponderous spurt-throated grasshopper and handsome Florida grashopper. LOL! 

The Mormon cricket is the critter from the well known "Miracle of the Gulls", but this piece of ethnographic lore is not mentioned by the authors. 

I readily admit that I have no idea whether this field guide is good or bad, not being particularly interested in grasshoppers, katydids or crickets (not even Mormon ones), and at the first sight of a gryllacridoid I would probably start running in the other direction! But that´s me. 

If you are some kind of super-nerd, or perhaps a gull, this might come in handy on a shiny summer day somewhere in the Sierras...