Too young to collect?

John Grehan jrg13 at psu.edu
Wed Mar 31 07:59:55 EST 1999


Some responses to Kurt Jacobs

 I have to wonder though, are
>these children exceptionally gifted, because to take it to the level that is
>beyond most high schoolers may be a bit overwhelming.  

Perhaps the children can decide this.

Most modest
>collectors will admit that it takes years to learn how to properly mount
>lepidoptera to what an experienced entomologist would consider
>"professional".  

Perhaps true, but does that matter? Specimens may look lousy, but still have
scientific value. And the earlier one starts the earlier one might become
proficient.

Many collectors with any love of the environment who hold
>collections feel that taking butterflies or moths without using the proper
>mounting and storage techniques is just throwing away a living animal. 

I'm not one of the many. Each year I "throw" away millions, perhaps billions
in the front of my car.

 It
>is a waste.  

A matter of personal philosophy.

Many lepidopterists also feel that people who hold collections
>and are not affiliated with a university or museum or such are also wasting
>the environment, even if they house a collection that rivals the most
>respected. 

I'm not one of the "many". And with the attitiude of some universities and
museums
towards collections I wouldn't necessarily want such persons to have such
affiliations. If universities can hold collections in such distain and
trash the idea of active working collections why burden this attitude upon
private collectors?

 If noone learns or sees the collection but the collector it is
>truly a waste. 

Personal philosophy. If no one learns of, or sees, a particular species is
the existence of that species a "waste"?

 The children would not most likely know
>if they were taking a female regal fritilliary or a male great spangled
>fritilliary until after it had been killed.  So to rush right out and start
>collecting insects at age 10 is wrong. 

When I started collecting as a child I did not "know" what I was collecting
either.
So this makes me a sinner?

 NOOOO, but it would be nice if the
>children learned respect for the fauna and if they could get a sense of what
>type of collecting is proper. 

This is loaded with moral judgements of guilt. The idea that if one does
not "know" what one is collecting, one has no "respect" for the fauna.
Sounds typical of fundamentalist christian theology (sin, sin, guilt,
guilt) (and I don't imply that is the foundation of anyone with christian
faith, and the same philosophy no doubt also occurs in other faiths). I
would argue (as personal philosophy) that "proper" collecting is that which
does not endanger the existence of a species.

>
>I have no problems with collecting, mounting and storing lepidoptera,

Evidently Kurt Jacobs has a lot of moral problems with collecting that is
not "proper".

>arent children in 4th grade a little young to be doing the work that college
>students sometimes have trouble learning?

Having experienced museum visits from many (many means hundreds) of
preschool and early grade children, and can confirm that they often have a
knowledge of insects that college students sometimes have trouble learning!

John Grehan


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