Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides)

First, let me say that I've had this for two years, and it has held up very well, so I can speak highly of its durability. The binding is not coming loose at all, and I have flipped through it countless times. It is one of those books that is always laying out and ready in my apartment. I haven't taken it to the field much, it's pretty heavy, and it really isn't that kind of guide, in my opinion. This is something that should be pored over indoors and learned from. There is so much knowledge here. It is true that this book is not easy to use if you have no knowledge of lepidopteran families. But I think anyone who has enough interest to consider buying a book like this should do it without hesitation. As I said before, this is a book that can teach you an incredible amount. The language straddles the line between scientific detachment and human fascination. It is very, very easy to read. There are many references to classic scientific papers on certain lepidopteran families, so your self-education can really spring off from this one book, and it sets a good example to any budding biologists who may someday be writing about biology, a subject that needs all the talented writers it can get. This is also an entertaining book. I can easily imagine someone buying this just to look at the pictures, and never even looking at the text at all, and still being endlessly amazed. Highly recommend this book. Add it to your shelf of insect books, keep it in your backpack, leave it on your coffee table, leave it on your toilet, just buy it. You can't go wrong here.

I didn't find anything to dislike about this book but lots to like. Since my other book about caterpillars only has black and white drawings instead of color photographs, I have to say the great color phots of both the caterpillar and the adult insect has to be what I like most about the book. I also like the way it is organized with each family color tabs in the corner of the pages. It has a glossary for armatures (like me) and two indexes.(one for food plants and the other a subject index), I learned a lot by reading the Introduction. Ideas about conservation, further study, preservation and how to attract butterflies and moths. I also liked that the book lists web sites for further study. The bibliography is also good, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in finding out what that worm is on their plants, what that worm turns into and what you can do to help conserve this very important part of our environment.

With an ever increasing interest in butterflies I recently purchased an excellent book that had outstanding photos of butterflies.....but not of the caterpillars that produced the butterflies. This was a huge disappointment because very often you find the caterpillar but have no idea what it will grow up to be. Caterpillars of Eastern North America completes "the story". In addition to excellent close up photos of each species, the book supplies comprehensive information about the identification, foodplants, and occurrences in an easy to read format. Closing the circle, they provide a photo of the adult butterfly or moth. This is a must have for anyone interested in the life cycle of of these beautiful creatures.

This book is perfect for identifying caterpillars. It even includes information about what they eat and their behaviors.

I use this to identify caterpillars i see. Useful too for planting native trees, shrubs and plants as it list host plants the caterpillars depend on.

Not too long ago in human history, people thought that caterpillars and butterflies were two entirely different critters. This book illustrates beautifully how different the pupual stage of the butterfly is from the adult! So many of us can identify a Monarch caterpillar, but how about a swallowtail or a sulphur? And, yeah, you know what a Gypsy Moth caterpillar looks like, and maybe even a Wooly Bear, but what do they TURN INTO? The pictures in this book will tell you! I'll say that this book isn't for the rank beginner, they'd probably do better with "Caterpillars in the Field and Garden : A Field Guide to the Butterfly Caterpillars of North America". And neither is it a definitive guide to all the caterpillars (that book has yet to be written). But it fits the niche right in-between. The pictures of the caterpillars are great; true to life and color, although the adult pictures are small, taken from pinned, collected adults, which makes for sometimes faded specimens and could never be used as a field guide as most of the moths never fan their wings. Moths are the primary reason to buy this book. If you've ever found a caterpillar in your garden and just don't know what it is, it's just as likely (if not sometimes more so) to be a moth as a butterfly. The beginner books don't include many moths, despite the fact that moth caterpillars can be just as colorful, and large! The author gives a summary on each page of the more common species, what they look like, whether instars are different from stage to stage, range maps, and most importantly: WHAT THEY EAT. I'm not talking about whether you have to worry about finding these guys on your tomatoes, or in your cereal cabinet. Caterpillar species specialize on a certain type of food plant or plants. Sometimes the ONLY way to tell two species apart is to see what the caterpillar eats. The tips in this book will help you on your way to raise caterpillars at home, find eggs on plants, even identify some common diseases and parasites. Aspiring lepidopterists will find this book useful to move from novices to informed backyard naturalists.

I bought this because we found a caterpillar at a picnic and after half an hour of internet image searching, still didn't know what it was. I have a real weakness for reference books, and while ponying up $23 for a caterpillar guide was a sort of facepalm moment, I have no regrets. I found the picnic caterpillar within five minutes. The color photos are great and the accompanying information is interesting and useful. Also, I like that it's specific to the northeast - I've spent too much time looking for a thing I've spied and finally think I've got it, only to discover that it lives in California.

I bought this for my daughter who really enjoys finding caterpillars. Really great photos throughout. I like that it shows what each caterpillar turns into also. Talks about what each caterpillar eats, where you can find it in the US, and other notes about it. It's a nicely set-up, thick field guide. I highly recommend it.

A great guide to butterfly and moth larvae. Great photographs and easy to navigate. A great addition to my guide collection.

This doesn't cover ALL of the thousands of caterpillar species (that would be just about impossible), but it covers a good chunk of the commonly encountered ones. This book works reasonably well for western North America too.

Great! Thanks!

The book is great to narrow down similar/same genus caterpillar species, even ones that aren't shown in the book (make use of google). However, the cover is slightly bent and the white paper/cardboard support of the cover is visible. Overall, would buy again but make sure to read the product description to check for the quality (used or new).

This fine volume by David L.Wagner more than satisfies my needs as an insect hobbyist/photographer. I happen to live in Canada and will probably never see half of the species profiled within the 700 plus pages of the book.