Princeton University Press, having plucked my name out of thin air, 
courtesy of Google, sent me a new book asking me to write a review. It 
was addressed to 'chrissladesbeeblog' which gives a clue as to how they 
found me! The book is an Identification Guide to the Bumble Bees of 
North America, a subject upon which I knew nothing.  This is what I 
wrote in my review:

"BUMBLE BEES OF NORTH AMERICA

Thank you for sending me a copy of the book.  I now know far more about 
the subject than I did two days ago!

The book is very informative, well illustrated and well written and I 
detected only one split infinitive (p.31)!  This will become a 
necessary addition to every nature lover's bookshelf and every school 
and reference library throughout N. America.

The authors concentrate on a range of characteristics to identify and 
separate the many species of bumble bees in that region; however, as a 
simple beekeeper, I wonder why they omit the wing vein indices, which 
are useful in distinguishing between the various sub-species of the 
honeybee, Apis mellifera.  This might be simpler for the amateur 
naturalist than some of the microscopic characters described.

While this excellent book sits on its shelf, it would be useful for the 
naturalist to have a more robustly covered, pocket sized, edition to 
take into the field for practical use.  This could be sold as a package 
together with a collection jar fitted with a magnifying lens  to enable 
the captured bee to be examined in detail and identified and then 
released unharmed, rather than being pinned to a board.

I hope these observations are of assistance."

Does anybody know whether my conjecture about the wings of the 46 
N.American species of bumble being sufficiently different from each 
other to be a useful aid in identifying species is correct?

Chris

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