"how butterflies are any different"

[Mike Quinn]

Dear Mark,

Butterflies are different from most hymenoptera, diptera, coleoptera,
micro-lepidotera in that there are field guides to butterflies and most can
be sight ID'ed to the species level with close-focusing binoculars. The
other groups generally lack field guides and mostly need to be put under a
microscope or 10x loope just to be ID'ed to the family level.

Mike Quinn, Donna, TX

Mark Walker wrote:

>I'm not sure how butterflies are any different than
>beetles, flies, etc.  Why is it that people in general have such a problem
>with _dispatching_ butterflies, while they don't have a problem with the
>rest of Insecta?  It's because butterflies are large, showy and graceful and
>relatively benign to humans (at least in the adult stage).  These
>characteristics have iconicized butterflies to a level that seems to
>supercede their place within the food chain.  And it's not MY value system
>I'm referring to - it's all of humankind.  If I walked around with a hammer
>and pounded cockroaches, I doubt that many would complain.  But chasing a
>butterfly with a net, now that's just sacrilegious!
>
>As I've said more times than I like to admit, it's the hypocrisy of it all
>that bugs me so.
>
>Mark Walker.