Austrian insect pins

[Dr. James Adams]

Dear Leps List and Andrea Hoffmann,

Andrea asked about Austrian pins, and, I'm sorry Andrea, but I don't 
have any help for you there.  I do however want to reply to your 
following statement:

> No, I'm not a collector, so please don't flame me. Thank you.  

I wouldn't think of "flaming" you if you were a collector.  Amateur 
collectors and professional researchers who collect have made 
incredible contributions to our understanding of specific 
evolutionary relationships, life histories, adult behavior, genetic 
variability, etc.  It is unfortunate that responsible collecting has 
been perceived so negatively that people have to apologize for being 
collectors.  It is about time that the public in general realizes 
that there are distinct life history differences between insects and 
vertebrates, and plants for that matter as well.  Insects 
generational time is generally very short, and fecundity high, so 
that they have the ability to replace themselves (in most 
circumstances) rapidly, and so the collection of a few individuals 
has virtually no impact on insects populations whatsoever.  (Compare 
that with shooting a few cougars, which could represent a major 
portion of a population, and a portion that would take several years 
to replace.)  It is also a shame that the occassional unscrupulous 
collector has also thrown the entire idea of collecting into the 
negative conciousness of the public.  (Boy, that was a loaded 
sentence!)

    Enough "pontificating" for today (just for you, Doug!).
    
        James Adams