What is a lepidopterist?

[Hank & Priscilla Brodkin]

In my mind their are two categories of lepidopterist, two of collector
and one of butterflyer.  The distinctions between them are not
necessarily cut and dry - there are shades of gray.

1) Professional Lepidopterist: A person whose source of employment is
the study of and research on butterflies and moths.

2) Amateur (which is derived from the Latin of French verb Love)
Lepidopterist:  Most of the more learned participants of this list - who
mostly collect, but not always, and study butterflies and moths in their
spare time and contribute, sometimes considerably, to the body of
knowledge about these creatures.  Because there are so few actual
employment opportunities for Lepidopterists - most of our knowledge
comes from these folks.

3) Collector: Those who enjoy getting out in the fresh air and
collecting and mounting butterflies for their own collections, but who
do not necessarily write papers or observe the natural history of
butterflies and moths.  The second category of collector are those who
do it for financial gain.

4) Butterflyer: Folks like me - who are probably in the majority now -
who will go out with binoculars and cameras, sometimes to foreign lands,
just to see and identify what they see.  Don't forget - there are now
more wildlife watchers than golfers or hunters or fishermen - so be nice
to us ;-)

Again, I believe there is much overlap between these categories, both in
intensity of interest and in attempting to contribute to the body of
knowledge on the subject.

Cheers!
-- 
	             Hank & Priscilla Brodkin
	          Carr Canyon, Cochise County, AZ
                   Send Mailto:hankb at theriver.com
             SouthEast Arizona Butterfly Association
          http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasa/home.html
         "Butterflies of Arizona - a Photographic Guide" 
           by Bob Stewart, Priscilla and Hank Brodkin 
         http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasa/book.html

 
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