Bookshelf

Agrovoc

published by APIMONDIA by arrangement with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Apimondia, Rome, Italy (1992 Second Edition) 798 pages. Paperback

All language versions except Arabic are available from: APIMONDIA, Italy. The Arabic version is available directly from FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Italy. Price USS120 for each monolingual volume plus USS10 mailing charges. USS580 for the complete AGROVOC thesaurus (5 version volumes) plus USS30 mailing charges.

This is a multilingual agricultural thesaurus to assist with indexing and retrieval of agricultural information. It covers all agricultural sectors including plant and animal protection, primary agricultural products, forestry, fisheries. human nutrition, rural development and the effects of agriculture on the environment.

This new edition is available in six language versions: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Cette publication est accessible en francaise.

Esta publication es disponible en española

The hot-blooded insects: strategies and mechanisms of thermoregulation

by Bernd Heinrich

Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany (1993) 601 pages. Hardback. Available from Bees for Development, price £90.00.

This book explodes the myth that bees (and all other insects) are cold-blooded animals which cannot regulate their body temperature. The author states “I've come to believe that certain insects are among the most highly evolved organisms on earth with respect to mastering temperature as a variable of the physical environment”. For example, large animal such as a human weighing 65 kg would register no measurable temperature increase on stepping from shade to sunshine for several minutes. However, when 10 mg insect lands in the sun, it can heat up by 10°C in only 10 seconds! Therefore the thermal environment faced by insects is potentially much more severe than it is for us or any other vertebrate animal, and insects have had to evolve sophisticated ways of dealing with this.

Bernd Heinrich discusses the thermoregulation of many other insects in addition to bees It is highly academic work (and also very expensive}, written in an articulate and readable style.

COMING SHORTLY... Ethiopian honeybee flora: some 500 common herbs, shrubs and trees

by Reinhard Fichtl and Admasu Addi

Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim, Germany (1994) 550 pages and 600 colour photographs. Paperback.

Available in October from Bees for Development, price £60.00 approximately.

In this book about 400 common herbs and shrubs and 100 common trees are described, with full colour, showing part of the rich honeybee flora of Ethiopia. Besides the descriptions of plants and their value to the bees, much emphasis is given to the cultural, traditional and medicinal value of these honey plants.

The book is intended for farmers and it will also provide beekeeping and extension personnel with vital source of pictorial and factual data on nectar- and pollen-producing plants.

This is the first book describing honey plants of Africa

Trees and shrubs of the Sahel: their characteristics and uses

by H J von Maydell

Maregraf Verlag, Weikersheim, Germany (1990) 525 pages and 493 colour photographs. Paperback.

Available from Bees for Development, price £34.00

An excellent colour field guide for the identification and uses of about 120 trees and shrubs. Packed with information about each species, some of which have a distribution throughout the tropics.

Cette publication est accessible en françaises.

Abres et arbustes du Sahel. leur caractéristiques et leur utilisations

(1990) 531 pages et 493 photographies en couleur.

Available from Bees for Development, price £37.00

Honeybee pollination of important entomophilous crops

by Rafiq Ahmad

Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan (1993 reprint) 104 pages. Paperback.

Available from Bees for Development, price £7.00.

Entomophilous crops are those which benefit from insect pollination. This is not a newly written publication but it is mentioned here because we have received a number of requests to provide modestly priced text. It lists the main fruit, fodder seed, oilseed and vegetable crops which benefit from insect pollination, and reviews publications describing the pollination of these crops. Useful for people who need to know the pollination requirements of crops, they are growing.

Chikka hive: beekeeping handbook

by Reinhard Fichtl

German Development Service, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (1994) 45 pages. Paperback.

Available from Bees for Development, price £4.50.

The Chikka hive has been developed in Ethiopia. The hive takes it name from the fermented loamy soil (Chikka) from which it is constructed.

The Chikka hive is top-bar hive: instead of fixing combs to the ceiling of the hive (as in traditional. basket hives}, or building combs inside rectangular, wooden frames (as in frame hives), the bees attach their combs to the underside of wooden top-bars. (The Chikka hive was described previously in Beekeeping & Development 22).

This new handbook is A5-sized. It contains numerous black and white illustrations which show the stages involved in making and using Chikka hive. The illustrations begin with collecting suitable soil for making the hive, mixing it with straw, moulding it into blocks, and building the hive. The next stage involves transferring colony of honeybees into the hive and caring for them. Basic information is given on honey harvesting and dividing colonies. A design for a bee house to contain Chikka hives is provided.

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