nets and wasps

[Robert Butcher]

> > 2) Tell them you collect wasps, or flies, or beetles or something else less
> > cuddly than butterflies.  Works every time, the response varies from complete
> > disbelief (see "What nets are for" in 1), to: "take as many of the nasty
> > things as you want" .
> 
Well, as someone who carries a net (occasionally) principally for 
the purpose of collecting parasitic wasps, i can confirm with James 
et al. except the people i meet usually have a liking for bees,as 
long as they stay away from themselves and their picnic etc, but on 
average mention wasps (usually assumed all to be " nasty" stinging 
vespidae) and they are only too happy for you to kill them. 
Personally, i find this attitude very sad and try to enlighten the 
people i meet on my few collecting trips, and the students here, that 
all life forms (yes, as a zoologist, well a trainee one anyway, i 
will most definately include plants, microbes etc) are equally 
interesting, valid etc. 
Surpisingly, i have good success with wasps including parasitic wasps 
(Darwins nightmare that lead him to disbelieve in an omnipotent 
benevolent God, sorry for the misquote)...but flies, NO. They might 
not sting etc, but whether if its the drosophila experiments at 
school, or the image of the germ carrying housefly i dont know, but 
sympathy for them is low.
Rob

Robert Butcher,
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology Unit,
Department of Biological Sciences,
Dundee University,
Dundee, DD1 4HN,
Tayside, Scotland,
UK.
Work Phone:- 01382-344291 (Office), 01382-344756 (Lab).
Fax:- 01382-344864
e-mail:- r.d.j.butcher at dundee.ac.uk