Bugs and back to blogging...

I am taking a summer course in entomology (insects) and I am a little torn. This is my last class before my thesis credits, and I find insects really interesting, but I am not particularly interested in killing them. But I have to. Thirty percent of my grade is making an entomological collection of at least a hundred specimens. That's right - a hundred. And pretty much they need to be a hundred different things. Whoa. 

So I ordered my kit and I have a "kill jar" which is a jar with a little plaster of paris that I put acetone in. I catch a bug (Yes I know I should call them insects, but I am not going to) and put it in the jar and then it breathes in some poisonous vapors, dies, and I stick it in the freezer to make sure. At some point, I have to start pinning them, but that is also a little gross and I am worried that I am going to ruin the specimens I do have. 

The hard part is butterflies, moths, and dragonflies. The wings need to be in good condition. In the video, Dr. H netted them, pinched their butts (abdomens), and slid them into envelopes. Sounds easy enough. 

I have been randomly collecting things in the yard, from my mom, and from students. I got a nice selection of crispies from the lights in a computer lab while my students were studiously working - at least they were studious until I started climbing on chairs and dropping the light fixtures open. Aaron and I even went for a walk in the park with the jars and I got a few things including lightning bugs. Isn't it early for lightning bugs?

On Sunday we went to Lenn Park, an underused, but beautiful park outside of town that is basically a gravel path next to a wooded stream and a huge open field. It is a civil war site because the stream is shallow enough to ford there. It wasn't supposed to rain, but it did a little, and it threatened a lot more.

There were insects everywhere! I nabbed some nosy bugs (snout beetles - in the picture they're doing it) and gold sequin ladybug, and lots of other beetles and things I cannot identify yet.

The butterflies and dragonflies were taunting me. Yes, imagine me, running and swatting with a butterfly net. It is hilarious. I nabbed a butterfly and tried squeezing its butt. Something definitely felt like it popped and I shuddered, but the butterfly was still moving. I tried again and it was still moving. I stuck it in an envelope anyway and tried not to think about it. Gross.

I caught one dragonfly and broke it in swatting it down. Darn. Then I chased after a pretty blue metallic one. I squeezed, and squeezed. I am not up for this. So then I stuck it into the kill jar for a while. Then I needed to take it out because I wanted to catch other things. I put it in a tupperware and then it started moving! I am trying to be humane as possible, but just isn't happening. I hope it is finally dead now that it is in the freezer. 

I clearly need some pointers so after that I stopped swatting at butterflies and dragonflies. We'll just have to go back to Lenn Park when I actually know what I am doing. I'll stick with beetles even if they do vomit gross juices all over the kill jar while in their death throes. 

 

What's Aaron doing? He's following me around, handing me the jar when I need it and otherwise staying out of it, except to show me up with netting abilities. 

This weekend I am going to try my hand at pinning simply to count how many I have so I can determine how much more of this slaughtering I have to work up to. It's cool and all, but it's also gross!