Introductions, and questions

Mark Walker MWalker at gensym.com
Wed Oct 6 15:55:16 EDT 1999


Hello to you, Trisha,

I will not attempt to speak on behalf of the others here, but I think that
you will find some common themes when you sort through your responses.

Here's my story:

I was born an adventurer and a rolling stone, and furthermore developed a
love for nature and the outdoors through the influence of my father - who
was backpacking back in the early 40's before it became so popular.

At some point during this pre-teen period of my life, and during periods in
between camping trips, I discovered that there was a fascinating window into
the universe right in my own backyard.  At first it was the H-bees
(actually, a fly whose scientific name evades me) which could be found
readily at flower blossoms and could be caught by hand.  Of course, this was
particularly cool because this bug otherwise looks and acts just like a
honey bee - and so correctly distinguishing them from the bees they coexist
with, and catching them with your hands, became a skill that could be used
to impress the girls of the neighborhood (OK, so there weren't many of these
in 1968).  Playing with H-bees soon expanded to playing with Fiery Skippers,
which could also be readily found at blossoms and easily caught by hand.
These two species alone are what turned me into an entomologist.  Being
chosen to bring the 4th grade Japanese silk moth larvae home for pupation
and emergence was another deciding moment.  The adults emerged in my
bedroom, and proceeded to mate and oviposit all over the walls and curtains.
I was in heaven.

Soon, catching flies and Skippers by hand were no longer sufficient.  Coffee
cans were soon turned into terrariums, and used to capture butterflies,
bees, wasps, and grasshoppers.  These bugs were kept as pets for a time, but
this soon turned into a fascination with species diversity.  As I became
more and more aware of the variation and specialization, I became more and
more interested in starting a collection.  I made a net and a spreading
board, and went out in the flower beds and fields to see what I might find.
At first, the bugs were placed in trays on cotton balls with a layer of
plastic wrap.  I soon found out the folly in this, and began to mount my
specimens in Riker mounts.  By the time I was 11 years old, I had already
collected bugs on two continents, and had built up a collection consisting
of a half dozen large mounts.  Along with a few friends, I started a
neighborhood bug club - members of which could be found on any weekend
collecting in the local fields (in those days, there were many of these in
Southern California).  During the summers, we would all go on our respective
summer vacations - bringing back our specimens from all over the country for
the others to enjoy.  Field guides were harder to find then (at least for a
young boy), and so we identified our specimens with whatever we could find.

My fascination for bugs became more of an eccentricity as I entered my teen
years.  The girls I was trying so hard to impress began to be impressed by
other things.  After about 14 years, I abandoned my first love for other
aspirations.  I continued to stay close to nature, but no longer carried a
net.  Occasionally, I would find an opportunity to talk about bugs, but
found myself speaking more and more in past tense.

While in graduate school in the early 90's, after 6 years of traveling the
world with the U.S. Navy and 10 years of engineering, I decided to subscribe
to the newly created Lep newsgroup (this predated LEPS-L) on the Web (it was
just being called the Web in those days).  I felt only fit enough to observe
as a bystander, however, since I was old school and didn't know really know
anything any more.  The Latin names all looked so foreign.

And then one day, with my children in an old fashioned barber shop in El
Segundo, CA., I had the good fortune of meeting a strange old fellow with a
white handlebar moustache and a ballcap equipped with a butterfly pin.  I
was in the barber chair when I asked the old guy what the butterfly pin was
for.  He told me that the pin was the likeness of the El Segundo Blue, a
wonderful little sub-species of Dotted Blue that lives only on small patches
of coastal sand dune habitat and is currently on the Endangered Species
list.  He briefly told me of it's life history, and then went on to tell me
that he was a lepidopterist.  Now this was something that I was familiar
with, and so I told him.  I told him of the collection that I used to have,
and of my fascination with the hobby, and of the club and of how the
neighborhood thought we were all mad.

That's when the guy says to me, "So, you USED to be a lepidopterist?".  

He looked at my then small children, and he continued, "Then that would make
you a FOOL".

I was a bit astonished by this comment, but he went on to tell me how much I
was missing and how much I was robbing my children of the wonder of nature,
the benefits of inquisition, and the value of spending quality time with
them as mentor.  He told me how much fulfillment he was getting, and how he
himself only started some 15 years before (after he was 60 years old).  I
thoroughly appreciated his remarks.  I asked him how I might get back into
the hobby, and he told me about BioQuip (an entomological and biological
supply store), which had everything that I needed. 

And so, in my 30's, I made a trip to BioQuip, met Jerri Larssen, and planned
a Memorial Day weekend trip with my children to work on my son's upcoming
science project.  In a matter of a few weeks, I was literally in full swing.
This was five years ago, and I haven't slowed down for anything.  As I have
shared many times on LEPS-L, this is not just a hobby for me - it is a
passion.  My wife, who has been a good sport about all of this, once told me
how fortunate I was to find a passion.  Having spent so many years without
one, I knew how correct she was.

Only just a week ago I learned of the passing of my good friend Larry
Mueller, who died at eighty-something of apparent heart attack while on the
tennis court in El Segundo.  He could still swing a mean net.  I will
forever be indebted to the old man with the butterfly pin, and was just
leaving for Massachusetts from where I planned to bring him back (as a gift)
a pair of New England Buckmoths (which I did find to be plentiful).  He will
be greatly missed.

Hope this helps,

Mark Walker
Mission Viejo, CA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trisha Norberg [mailto:mariposa at trespass.net]
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 1999 3:24 AM
> To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Introductions, and questions
> 
> 
> Hello butterfly and moth enthusiasts.  I'm new to this list, 
> so I thought I'd 
> introduce myself, or at least say hi.  Also, I am doing some 
> research into the 
> human side of studying insects, especially our beloved 
> butterflies, so if 
> anyone has time to answer a few quick questions (very 
> quickly, i'm running out 
> of time to write my essay,) please do so. 
> 
> Basically I'd like to know what attracts people to study 
> these insects, exactly 
> how people go about it, and why they enjoy it.  Anybody who 
> can send an email 
> answering these questions, amateur or professional, please, 
> it would help me a 
> lot.  Thank you very much.
> 
> 
> Trisha Norberg aka: la Mariposa loca  }{
> 
> 
> FREE STUFF Just For You at http://Free2Try.com/?userid=11935
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> I'm getting paid for this email!  You can too by joining
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> 


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