To collect or not to collect

[Leptraps at aol.com]

Here I go again!

To collect or not to collect! I would love to get into this fray, however, 
you are all worried about somebody collecting all of some rare bug that has 
four common names, one scientific name and a bunch of save the world of 
butterflies from the collectors folks hot on the collectors back. Well, lets 
get serious. I have been operating bait traps and pheromone traps in a rather 
fair size hardwood hammock in Broward County. I was surprised to find Asteroca
mpa flora (Sorry NABA folks, you will have to find the common name on your 
own. I do not know it) in several traps in late December. I put several more 
out along a canal on the South side of the hammock. On the other side of the 
canal is a land fill that has been closed for over a decade (A nasty smelling 
thing! I often can duplicate the smell after eating Italian food!). I went to 
check my traps and found the hammock GONE! I mean absolutely GONE! Several 
large piles of mulch were present, but not one tree! Even the grass was GONE! 
Here comes another upscale housing development. I saw no one protesting the 
destruction, nor did I here anyone cry out for the butterflies, other than 
me. Oh yes, several weeks after I began to trap in the hammock, "No 
Trespassing" signs were posted to protect endangered habitat. Not from me, 
they wanted to protect it so their bulldozers could destroy it.

The point is, no collector can match the destruction of butterflies and moths 
like progress!

Any suggestions? Does anyone know were else Asterocampa flora in Broward 
County, Florida?

Leroy Koehn
Lake Worth, Florida