Rarified Lepidopterotrivia

[John Lane]

I'll bite.

When first proposed as the state's butterfly, its name was the California Dog
Head, and even then people realized an alternative common name was a better
one, the Flying Pansy.  (See: J. D. Gunder's A State Butterfly For California,
Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 6:88 (1929) ).

Therefore, with the assurance of a zen master, I can assure all that whichever
dog's face it is, a dog's face is always on its head.

What's more: it might be a flower.

Colias (Zerene) eurydice (Pieridae) semper fidelis.

John Lane (johnlane at nccn.net) Grass Valley, California



John Acorn wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Since things seem to have become much more quiet and amicable here lately,
> let me distract the group from the topic of Bt corn by posing a question
> with almost no practical significance whatsoever.  On a Dogface butterfly
> (genus Zerene), I have always seen the profile of a poodle, with its mouth
> closed but the lips a bit puckered, the mouth sitting at about the mid-point
> between the leading and trailing edge of the front wing.  The other day, I
> looked again, and realized it might really be a Shi-Tzu, with its mouth wide
> open (much closer to the trailing edge), and a double-bumped nose.  Any
> comment on this rarified lepidopterotrivial puzzle?
>
> John Acorn
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