Today's quiz

[Mark Walker]

I enjoyed Patrick's quiz.  I must comment on this, though:

> 5) The US Endangered Species Act of 1973 puts limitations on the
> collection of an incredibly small fraction of the butterfly checklist,
> therefore
> a) soon we will be hunted down in our homes like drug criminals, and our
> nets confiscated as paraphernalia.
> b) Americans do care about things as economically insignificant as a
> subspecies of blue, and, in order to protect it in an even-handed way
> towards all citizens (required by the US Constitution's concept of equal
> protection and due process etc.) will go to slightly ludicrous lengths
> to assure the survival of both the butterfly and the Constitution.

I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I must sadly admit that I
think answer "a)" may be closer to the truth than we'd all like to admit -
and in some cases has already started to happen in the USA.  I personally
know of several lepidopterists whose homes have indeed been penetrated and
whose collections have indeed been scrutinized.  These are "good guys", too.
They are not at all unethical about their collecting practices - and no
specimens were required to be confiscated.  The silliest part of all this is
that the "inspectors" haven't a clue what they're looking at.  They
scrutinize data - which is of course provided by the "suspect" - but
wouldn't know a Karner Blue from a Cabbage White (O.K., maybe the color
thing would provide some clue).

Not to spoil the fun in Patrick's post, but...  You gots to call it the way
you sees it.  I don't know about you, but the above 1984-ish activity scares
the crap out of me.  I'm not quite ready to call it quits and move to
Canada, however };>)

Mark Walker 

ps: when nets do become paraphernalia, does BioQuip become a "headshop"?

 
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