Did You Collect Bugs, Too?
Hasn’t modern civilized life come to be little else than a fight for life against bugs? ~Dorothy Scarborough, American writer from the Southwest
My late dad loved insects and often pondered why he hadn’t chosen entomology as his profession.
How, then, did he end up with two daughters who aren’t fans of bugs, especially flies, mosquitoes, wasps, roaches, and most beetles?
Daddy would’ve had a field day with the recent emergence of all those red-eyed cicadas. A big old bug like that, with its ability to drown out everyday household noises — and the fact that its urine stream is amazingly strong for its size — well, Daddy would’ve found that fascinating.
When I was in school, we had to make an insect collection, and Daddy was eager to be included as my “assistant.” I’d have gladly turned the entire thing over to him if I hadn’t feared I’d be caught cheating!
That didn’t stop him from giving me regular pointers. Stuff like, Don’t worry about the far-off goal of getting it done by the following spring. Rather, work now while the bugs are available. Eventually, they’ll go into hiding, and you won’t be able to find them.
Did I listen?
Right. What kid listens to wise advice like that?
I think this is a feasting on my Lantana flowers — he’s one of the good bugs!
So I caught a few bugs, chloroformed them as our teacher instructed, then stuck a pin through them, labeled them, and inserted them into a foam layer in a cigar box.
Yuck.
I didn’t want to touch them, didn’t like the smell of the “poisoning” agent, had trouble downsizing my huge script so it would fit on those tiny ID labels, and caught myself apologizing for sticking pins in the poor creatures’ already-dead middles.
And as the weather turned colder, I panicked when I realized I hadn’t caught near enough bugs. All I could hope for was an early, buggy Spring!
Today’s kids probably don’t do insect collections like we did. Shoot, if they don’t do leaf collections, why would they mess with bugs??
But even though I wasn’t enamored of the project, I must confess I learned a LOT. How to identify our area’s common insects, where to find them, how to preserve them. And I got a pretty good grade, despite whining over the task from the day it was announced until the day I turned in my cigar boxes.
How about you? Did you do an insect collection, or was there another school project you found objectionable?
Note: Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!
