And what is in a name?

[Anne Kilmer]

Hank & Priscilla Brodkin wrote:
> 
> Anne Kilmer wrote:
> 
> >SNIP
> > I am very happy to use both scientific and common names, and have been
> > doing so for many years. I think perhaps the confusion here results from
> > my NABA membership. Not all NABA members espouse all the prejudices and
> > failings that a few do.
> 
> Anne -
> Might I add that MOST NABA members that I know are not anti-collecting.
> I can think of only one whose face goes all splotchy when she sees a
> net. Perhaps at some point this will sink in - but then what will we
> have to argue about ? ;-)
> 
> > Myself, I am kind to collectors, and treat taxonomists with courtesy and
> > understanding. And I cannot understand why anyone should think
> > otherwise.
> > Anne Kilmer
> 
> Amen!
> 
> --
>                           Hank Brodkin
>
Another Lepper, in a private communication (an apology for a public
bashing on three lists) added: "And I know there are NABA members out
there (I know a few personally) that do not "espouse all the failings
that a few have". (But then, why be a member?)"

Ah, why be a NABA member. Is it the dandy little magazine, with the
photos defaced by somebody with artistic inclinations, so that I cannot
use them for collage and decoupage, as is my happy custom? Is it the
editorials? 
Is it, in fact inertia ... easier to continue to belong than to drop
out? 
Why, no. I belong to NABA because I care deeply about butterflies (and
moths) and the world they live in. I am eager to help educate people in
general to the needs and wishes of leps, and to assist them (the leps)
on life's journey. For, if there are plenty of bugs, there are also
plenty of the critters who eat them. Butterflies are for the birds.
I am also glad to increase and enhance my own education, which is one
reason I stick with this list. 
Some NABA members oppose collecting, for various reasons. These reasons
they may exhibit in the magazine, or on this list. 
Many other members are collectors, and have written about that in the
magazine. Jeff himself is a collector. 
Quite a few of us neither collect nor object. 

The NABA web page to which Wanda Dameron directed us has both common
(vernacular English) and scientific names, so arranged that one can,
given either name, find the other. That's useful, if you happen to be in
another country and wonder what a Mourning Cloak might be, or whether a
Purple Hairstreak feeds on oak or mistletoe. 
The page gives no preference to either name, and the people of the leps
list decided, long ago, to use both common name and scientific name for
whatever leps they are discussing. Those who are kind enough to include
the English name get extra points. ;-) 

NABA *has* taken a stand against Butterfly Farming, and I'm not at all
sure I agree, but that's beside the point. 

The point I am making is that, if those of you prejudiced against NABA
had their way, everyone who uses scientific names and approves of
collecting would leave NABA and you could be perfectly right about your
prejudices. That would leave NABA with about 12 rabid members, and good
riddance to it. 
I don't see that happening any time soon, and perhaps it is time for the
NABA bashers to rethink their position, abandon their prejudices, and
enjoy the light of day once more. 
It is, after all, the Millennium. 

It is cold and rainy here, planning gale force winds again today. I saw
a LBJ yesterday (Little Brown Job, perhaps something rare and exciting
but more probably a Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria) which banged against
my window and flew off. Other than that, not much in the way of leps.
Perhaps tomorrow will be better. 
Peace, and good bugs to you
Anne Kilmer
Mayo, Ireland

Thus

 
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