Field guide to the land snails and slugs of eastern South Africa

I highly recommend purchase, as this book sets a new standard for field guides in the field of Molluscan studies. It succeeds in being both a comprehensive guide to the land snails of eastern South Africa as well as providing much information about life cycles and animal biology for the region. For a new student the book is self-contained, guiding a student though collection and preservation techniques, to identification and does not require access to other books on the other aspects of snail biology. Dai Herbert has added sections on snail farming and pest species reflecting his expertise on this area. It synthesises this information without putting too many additional pages onto the book, hence it remains a useful book to take with you on a field trip.

There are 336 pages to the guide, with full colour printing throughout. The book covers the identification of 284 species, and 127 of these are endemic to eastern Southern Africa. All 284 species are illustrated, some with more than one picture. There are many introductory diagrams and maps, reflecting the principle that diagrams can synthesise and present complex information more effectively than words, and all the diagrams are used in the descriptive accounts. Each species entry included a picture of the shell, often in colour, and sometimes with an illustration of the live animal; the latter is a rarity for many field guides, as land snail photography requires considerable skill and patience. The species accounts provide a general description of the shell characters, notes on the range, and where known, the habitat. The account also provides comments on how the shell can be distinguished from allied species. A common name has been provided; this is considered to be a useful addition, as many students and non-specialists find a common name easier to remember at the start of their studies.

There are a variety of different methods to assist the user in the techniques of identification. There is a simple key to families followed by keys to groups of some of the more difficult groups such as the Family Streptaxidae. At the beginning of each family information on identification characters, distribution and general biology of the animals is given. The colour tags on the sides of pages are an excellent addition make it easier to find the sections where each family account is presented without resorting to the index.

The quality of production is excellent. The pages are of good quality, with a paper, which whilst glossy for good production of the colour work, is not too glossy to make reading difficult. The book is well bound, and feels like it will withstand many years of heavy handling. From my knowledge of the fauna, the colour balance on the plates is excellent, and has not suffered the fate of other books, presumably due to close liaison between the author and the printers. The quality of the illustrations is excellent, with good depth of field on the photographs, many live animals and well shaded line drawings showing the three dimensional nature of the shells. The dot distribution maps generated from Museum collections and field collecting programmes show the nature of the distributions of each species and further comments are provided on the significance of this data.

The last handbook to the non-marine molluscs of southern Africa was produced in 1939, and did not illustrate all the species, so this new book is a much-needed addition to the series of field guides to the fauna of KwaZulu Natal. It provides a synopsis of current information on the biology, geology and history of studies of Molluscs in Southern Africa, and as such it is a guide that is likely to stand the test of time, reflecting the many years of experience that the authors have put into the production.