Whats wrong with this picture.

[Mark Berman]

Hi

Of course, any enterprising (okay entoprising) teacher - or anyone else -
can go out and find monarch caterpillars, even eggs, in the wild. It's not
like the milkweed plants onto which they must transfer the lab-reared babes
aren't attracting ovipositing females!

This would also result in a much more educated instructor (it's amazing the
things you find on milkweed!), and a much more ecologically sound practice.
It would demonstrate to the students that this stuff is right in their own
backyards - not ordered from the internet. It would protect many of these
wild larvae from predatory ants and wasps, and possibly help keep strong the
local monarch population.

Boy, are we a television/internet society or what?!

Mark
BUGMAN Educational Entoprises
http://www.bugs.org



Paul Cherubini <paulcher at CONCENTRIC.NET> wrote in message
news:37E90A90.6623 at concentric.net...
> Bob Kriegel
> Dept of Entomology
> Michigan State University wrote:
>
> > As a member of Lep Soc I am very concerned if a university Entomology
> > Dept.is involved in the large scale commercial sale of native
butterflies.
> > Particularly since this practice is in direct conflict with current
efforts
> > by the two largest Lep societies in the U.S.
>
> Robert, you can go to www.monarchwatch.org (a web site run by the Dept.
> of Entomology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence) and find that
> monarch caterpillars are offer for sale for $2.00 each:
>
> "Monarch Rearing Kits ($25)  Rearing Kit #2 contains 10-12 three-five
> day old Monarch larvae (caterpillars) that were started on an artificial
> diet. These larvae must be transferred to milkweed plants to feed and
> will pupate in about 2 weeks. Adult Monarchs will emerge 10-14 days
> after pupation."
>
> Paul Cherubini, Placerville, California
>