P.sennae

[Netherton]

Dear Friends;
I am a naturalist living in Western NC, and have spent many yrs studying
the natural world around me. I have read in the Audubon's Butterflies by
Pyle that many species emigrate Northward in the Fall, but few make it
South again as the Monarch (D. plexippus) (sp?). Among these is P.
sennae. I have seen P. sennae drifting South in NC and Ga, and have seen
them doing so in th Mountains this year. It would seem to me that it
would make no sense to go North in the Fall, reproduce, and have your
progeny die of the cold. Where is the selective advantage? Would closer
observation show that they do indeed return South to reproduce, and no
one has seen it due to a more scattered migration than the Monarch? This
question has troubled me for years.

As for the question of Latin;
Carl von Linne in or around 1575 decided that Latin was a "dead"
language, no longer in common use. As it would not change due to usage,
it was perfect for naming things. (Others felt the same way, and the
names would run several pages in LATIN for gosh sakes.) He decided on a
Binomial (two name) system where the first or Genus name would show
relationship, and a trivial name (or specific epithet) that would
identify the creature or plant from all other named ones in the world.
Most of the Biological world has adopted this.
Confusion erupts from two critters (or more) having the same common
name, or a critter having several common names across its range.
(He also changed changed his name to Carolus Linnaeus.)
There is also a quaint little poem:

Those are dead who spoke it;
Those are dead who learned it;
Those are dead who learned it;
Blessed death they earned it!

Ode to Latin
author unknown



Alex Netherton
danetherton at earthlink.net
Asheville NC
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