[leps-talk] -of moose and bugs and loggers --

[Dr. James Adams]

Listers,

         Sorry for cross-posting.  I know there are several people who will 
get two copies of this message.

         I know I haven't been particularly "vocal" recently.  I've gotten 
some wonderful lep experiences to share, both from my "home" state of 
Georgia, and from a trip I recently took to Mexico in August.  I've been 
very busy and have not been able to share like I would like to.  Still, 
I'll try to make time soon.  I know how much people enjoy the travelogue 
type of messages.  Indeed, butterfly numbers and diversity in Mexico were 
most *IMPRESSIVE* this year.

         Two things at the moment.  Norbert mentioned the business about 
*forestation* being an ecological problem, and I agree.  I grew up in 
Missouri, a state that was largely open pristine prairie in the 1800's and 
has a significant amount of the former prairie that is not now developed 
closed in with eastern deciduous/mixed forest.

         The absolute worst example of forestation has to be the artificial 
forestation that frequently occurs when a diverse, open forest is cleared 
and *reforested*  with a pine monoculture.  I would *much* rather see a 
denuded hillside for a couple of years that is allowed to go through 
*normal* succession than to skip to a sterile, pine forest environment.  I 
once heard an individual proudly proclaim that "Hey.  We plant more trees 
than we cut!"  Yuck.  If the *diversity of trees was replanted, that would 
be one thing.  But that is not how it works . . .

         Now, about that amorous moose.  Well, I don't have anything to say 
about the moose, but this discussion reminded me of a lep experience I had 
when I was about 12 years old.  My mom can vouch for me on this one . . . 
she was there.  The family was on an outing around Trimble Lake, NE of 
Kansas City one afternoon, and I was, of course, searching for butterflies 
and moths, as I still do to this day.  Along one of the trails in an open 
area, just below the top of a little rise, I spotted two Bumblebee Sphinx 
Moths (Hemaris diffinis) mating, and proclaimed loudly "Hey, look, they're 
copulating!"  Well, this quickly turned into a very humorous situation as I 
topped the rise and saw a couple on a picnic blanket, prone and in a tight 
embrace, looking sheepishly back toward me.  Who knows what they were 
thinking . . . (maybe, "that obnoxious kid" or "that kid still needs to 
learn a thing or two about biology").

         James

James K. Adams
Phone: (706)272-4427
FAX:  (706)272-2235
Visit the Georgia Lepidoptera Website:
    www.daltonstate.edu/galeps/
Also check out the Southern Lepidopterists' Society new Website:
    www.southernlepsoc.org/
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