Fatal Metalmark

[drdn at mail.utexas.edu]

Holland called this species "Dusky Metal-mark" in 1914 and 1931. Klots called it
"Fatal Metalmark" in 1951.
   Nemesis is the (Old Greek) goddess of justice and equity who punished pride
and arrogance. Seems we need her today more than we have for quite a while.
.............Chris Durden

Quoting Fred Heath <fred.heath at earthlink.net>:

> The other day at a presentation on California butterflies someone asked why
> the Fatal Metalmark (Celephelis nemesis) is named "fatal". Since I had no
> idea, I hypothesized out loud that the original collector of this species
> was having trouble catching it and so it became his "nemesis". Finally one
> day he was so excited to see it nectaring on a nearby flower, he leaned over
> and swung his net catching the type specimen of the butterfly, but not
> realizing the flower was on the edge of cliff, plunged to his death. So his
> nemesis was fatal to him! Although this got a big laugh, I also became
> curious (and yes I know curiosity killed the cat) as to where the name came
> from? Anybody out there know?
> --Best regards, Fred
>
>
>
>
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