VES News - Summer 2014 - Vermont Entomological Society

VES NEWS
The Newsletter of the Vermont Entomological Society
On the web at www.VermontInsects.org
Number 84
Summer 2014
VES NEWS
Contents
The Newsletter of the
Vermont Entomological Society
VES Officers
Michael Sabourin
Warren Kiel
Trish Hanson
Luke Curtis
Rachael Griggs
Bryan Pfeiffer
President
Vice President
Secretary &
Newsletter
Treasurer
Deputy Secretary
Webmaster
Emeritus Members
Joyce Bell
Ross Bell
John Grehan
Gordon Nielsen
Michael Sabourin
Mark Waskow
The Vermont Entomological Society is
devoted to the study, conservation, and
appreciation of invertebrates. Founded in 1993,
VES sponsors selected research, workshops
and field trips for the public, including children.
Our quarterly newsletter features developments
in entomology, accounts of insect events and
field trips, as well as general contributions from
members or other entomologists.
Number 84  Summer 2014
DEPARTMENTS
Member Profile: Katie Chang
VES Calendar
Field Notes
 Observations of Goniops chrysocoma
by David H. Funk
 Megarhyssa macrurus
by Maureen Mudge
Luke Curtis, VES Treasurer
2177 Ripton Road
Lincoln, VT 05443
Page 5
Page 6
Feature Article: Dragonflies and Damselflies
of the Green Mountain Audubon Nature Center
by Wally Jenkins
Page 7
VES Book Review (The Life if the Scorpion)
by Katie Chang
Page10
VES Member News
Page 11
VES is open to anyone interested in
arthropods. Our members range from casual
insect watchers to amateur and professional
entomologists. We welcome members of all
ages, abilities and interests.
You can join VES by sending dues of $15 per
year to:
Page 3
Page 4
Newsletter Schedule
Spring:
Summer:
Fall:
Winter:
Deadline April 7 - Publication May 1
Deadline July 7 - Publication August 1
Deadline October 7 - Publication November 1
Deadline January 7 - Publication February 1
2014 Dues
Check Your Mailing Label
Cover Images: Front: Lena Curtis
photographed these red goldenrod aphids
(Uroleucon sp.) in Addison, VT on June 20,
2014. Back: Bill Boccio captured this shot of
the goldenrod crab spider, Misumena vatia, on
July 7, 2014, at the Essex Junction Community
Gardens in Essex Junction, VT.
The upper right corner of your mailing label will inform you of the
month and year your VES membership expires. Dues are $15 and
can be sent to our treasurer at
See this newsletter in living color
on the web at:
www.VermontInsects.org
Thanks!
Page 2
Vermont Entomological Society
c/o Luke Curtis
2177 Ripton Road
Lincoln, VT 05443
VES News - Summer 2014
Member Profile
THE CRAFTY KATYDID
By Katie Chang
A
from their beaks. “What if it gets me in my sleep?” I
remember my roommate nervously asking.
s a child, I would sacrifice ants to ant lions. I’d
capture an ant in my hands (aspirators were not After completing UVM with a degree in environin my vocabulary yet), and the poor thing would get mental science, I joined the State of Vermont’s
dropped abdomen first into a sandy conical pit.
Biomonitoring and Aquatic Studies Section (BASS),
Eagerly I would
whom I worked
wait for the ant
with for four
lion to toss sand
seasons. In the
upwards, culinterview, they
minating in the
held up a vial
disappear-ance
containing an
of said ant.
aquatic insect
When I saw Star
and asked if I
Wars and the pit
could identify it.
dwelling monI got it wrong,
ster on Tatooine,
but I still got the
it was nothing
job, and now I
new.
can say it was a
Pteronarcys
Not the most
stonefly nymph.
pleasant memIt was with
ory of my
BASS that my
youthful interamazement for
actions with
insects continnature, but one
ued. I learned of
Katie at work
of my earliest.
the existence of
Other memories
include some of the temporary arthropod pets we had water scorpions,
when I was a kid. Walking sticks, a praying mantis,
prodded at terrifyingly
these guests amazed me with their strength, size,
large water spiders,
agility, and capabilities. The praying mantis was
picked through many
particularly impressive and seemingly very
bug samples, and
intelligent.
spent winter months at
the scope identifying
In more recent years, I kept two giant water bugs,
aquatic macronamed Salt and Pepper, in an aquarium tank. They
invertebrates of the
were very fun, but I remember being disappointed
Diptera, Coleoptera,
when neither Salt nor Pepper went after a minnow I
and Trichoptera
had provided them (seemingly not very intelligent). I orders.
had them for a long time, until one mysteriously
Making friends with a
disappeared. My roommate and subsequent guests
mantid…
were none too pleased to find this out, especially
(Continued on page 4)
when I told them how painful their bites could be
VES News - Summer 2014
Page 3
school, high school,
and undergraduate
No matter what I was identifying, I always found it
students, as well as
mesmerizing and cool (for lack of a better word), that providing support
such small creatures existed and had the same basic
for the Research on
functions you and I do. And there’s always someAdaptation to
thing new to see! Once, I watched through the scope Climate Change
in awe as baby
center.
caddisflies emerged
from their egg case.
Thankfully, there are
Their first order of
still opportunities for
business? To
collecting and
immediately start
identifying benthic
creating cases out of
macroinvertebrates.
the grains of sand that We hold macroinversurrounded them.
tebrate workshops
You go, smart little
for Middle School
caddisflies!
teachers and
...and a giant stonefly
macroinvertebrate
Currently, I work as a sampling and idenResearch Technician
tifying are an intricate part of our high school
for Vermont
program.
EPSCoR’s Center for
Workforce DevelopI hope to share how amazing insects are through
ment
and
Diversity,
a
writing, art, and photography. Feel free to visit my
Collecting field data
NSF funded program. blog http://thecraftykatydid.wordpress.com/ and
I am involved in outreach pro-grams with middle
drop me a message!
MEMBER PROFILE (Continued from page 3)
VES Calendar
August 9 (Rain date August 10), 10-12 noon:
Ethan Allen Homestead with Don Miller, Burlington, VT. Directions: From I 89, take exit 14
towards downtown Burlington (East). Merge onto
Route 2 / Main Street. Take the first right onto
East Ave. Stay to your right and go past the hospital. At the end of East Avenue, turn left onto Pearl
Street. Turn right onto North Champlain. At the
end of North Champlain, turn left onto Manhattan
Drive. Take the first right onto Route 127 North.
Take first exit for North Ave Beaches. In the middle of the exit ramp, before crossing over Route
127, take a sharp right onto Ethan Allen Homestead and cross over the bike path. Continue down
Ethan Allen Homestead past the community garden to the large parking lot. We’ll meet at the museum. For more information about the site, visit:
http://www.ethanallenhomestead.org/
Page 4
August 24, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Buckner Preserve,
West Haven, VT. Buckner Preserve is a favorite
site for observing butterflies and moths, dragonflies and damselflies. The main walking trail passes through fields, a mixed hardwood forest and by
several ponds. A good variety of birds, amphibians
and reptiles are often noted. Contacts: Mike Sabourin (802-426-2133 or 802-595-9024) and Laurie
DiCesare (893-1845). Directions: Route 7 south to
Vergennes; 22A south to route 4 (toward Whitehall, NY); just before Whitehall, turn right (north)
onto Rt. 9 past T intersection with 9A; take 1st
right onto Rt. 10 (Doig Street); left onto dirt road
(paved road curves to right); cross bridge and turn
left. Tim’s trail is on the right, 0.7 mile down the
dirt road. More parking farther down the road. See
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/north
america/unitedstates/vermont/placesweprotect/hele
n-w-buckner-preserve-at-bald-mountain.xml
VES News - Summer 2014
Field Notes
OBSERVATIONS OF GONIOPS CHRYSOCOMA IN PA
By David H. Funk
C
heck out the attached pictures. Ever since I got
back to PA from Lake Umbagog, NH, on my
lunch time mountain bike ride up on the hill above
Station 2, when I go by this one spicebush, I hear a
brief but loud buzz. At first I thought is was a deer
fly in my helmet, but it always happened at the same
spot and realized it was something next to the trail.
Yesterday I made a concerted effort to locate its
source and it turned out to be a large (3/4" body
length) fly sitting on a mound of eggs on the underside of a spicebush leaf. It had apparently been sitGoniops chrysocoma with eggs beginning to hatch
ting under this very leaf for at least three weeks,
buzzing every time I rode by. I photographed it and
gently put the leaf in a jar and brought it back to the back to 1911 documenting this. Doug said he had
lab. It made no effort abandon the eggs.
been wanting to photograph this phenomenon for 30
years. Apparently this thing is pretty rare.
This morning I brought in better lighting equipment
and as I photographed it the eggs started hatching,
visible in the photos attached. I took all the hatchlings and put them out in the woods where I found
her (didn't look at all like some place I would expect
to find tabanid larvae--hill top in woods--but I figure
she knows better than I what they want.)
Tabanid fly Goniops chrysocoma
Back in the lab I could make out that it was a Tabanamorpha but I couldn't be sure of family from
the live specimen in a jar. It certainly didn't look like
any tabanid I was familiar with, so I fired off a picture to Dick Weber, who also didn't recognize it, and
another to Doug Tallamy. Doug recognized it (he
knows tabanids pretty well and is also an authority
on parental care in insects). It is Goniops chrysocoma,
the only North American tabanid that guards its
eggs. Once I had a name I found some papers dating
VES News - Summer 2014
Pretty cool, eh? The adults are not blood feeders, and
I found a record from Jamaica, VT, so you might run
into one sometime. If you are walking in the woods
and you hear a brief, loud buzz you might find one
these as the source. If I ever hear it again, I will recognize it. Apparently, this is how most have been
found.
In Schwardt's 1934 paper (sited below), he mentions
that the mother fly sinks her tarsal claws into the leaf
and so is not easily dislodged. My specimen did this,
too. After photographing her in situ, I gently removed the twig with the leaf she was on, put it in a
jar in the back pocket of my cycling jersey, and rode
my mountain bike a half mile or so through the
(Continued on page 6)
Page 5
Field Notes
(Continued from page 5)
woods back to my lab. When I arrived she was still
stuck fast. Also, mine definitely took at least 3 weeks
to incubate, and she died quietly right after the eggs
hatched.
Reference: H. H. Schwardt, Biological Notes on Goniops
Chrysocoma (O. S.) (Diptera: Tabanidae), Journal of the
Kansas Entomological Society, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul., 1934), pp.
73-79.
[Editor’s note: VES member Alan Graham shared
David Funk’s fascinating story and photos, and David, who works at the Stroud Water Research Center
in Avondale, PA, graciously agreed that we could
include the information in VES News.]
Goniops chrysocoma with hatchlings
More Field Notes
had six legs, two antenna, with an extra three long
tentacles, one was used for an egg-laying device, and
the other two were protective sheaths on either side.
his is my story about an interesting experience I I contacted Michael Sabourin and Trish Hanson from
had with a wasp, but not just any wasp. I believe the http://www.vermontinsects.org/ site because I
thought she was something special and wanted to
her to be Megarhyssa macrurus.
share her and my story with others. I donated her to
On June 9th 2014 "Lady" (the name I gave her) flew
Michael, along with my story and pictures.
directly at me onto my porch. I am highly allergic to
all bees and wasps and have EpiPens everywhere! I
started screaming for my husband John. He came out
and smacked her with a fly swatter. By now I would
have used a half a can of Raid! I'm not sure what
stopped me because just the thought of wasps terrifies me!
MEGARHYSSA MACRURUS
By Maureen Mudge
T
After he had hit her, I realized that she was something special and that I had never seen anything like
her before, and I decided to try to save her. She
couldn't fly so I put her in my flower bed and I fed
her blossoms, sugar water off of a blade of grass, and
dandelions. She was with me for four days before finally passing away. No one would have believed that
me of all people would have gotten close to a wasp or
bee, let alone try and save one!
Lady was black, approximately two inches in body
length, her head was yellow, her eyes were black, she
Page 6
Maureen (“Moe”) Mudge from Brattleboro with “Lady”
VES News - Summer 2014
DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE GREEN MOUNTAIN
AUDUBON NATURE CENTER, HUNTINGTON, VT
tats I've made it a point to not only visit regularly but
visit all potential habitats. Recent years have been
lways curious about all things natural I purmore focused on targeted species, those likely to be
chased a beginner's guide to dragonflies a num- found here but for some reason not found to date. Gober of years ago. After identifying a handful of speing forward the study promises diminishing returns
cies and marveling at their beauty I began to think
in terms of new species, but increasing returns in my
this might be an interestunderstanding and enjoying group of insects (the
ment of our local dragonOdonata) to study in more
flies and damselflies.
detail. The Audubon Nature Center, with its nearMost productive for findby location and diversity
ing dragonflies and damof aquatic habitats,
selflies, not only in speseemed like a good place
cies but in numbers, is a
to begin. With the enthusistring of beaver ponds of
astic support of the Nature
various sizes and ages
Center staff I began to recthrough the middle of the
ord all the different speproperty. Some of these
cies encountered. What I
ponds are large and well
found was more than I
established, some small
imagined; 48 species of
or ephemeral. A man
odonates - 36 dragonflies
made "peeper pond" adjaand 12 damselflies. Species
Green-striped Darner, Aeshna verticalis
cent to a meadow adds to
diversity was only half the
the lentic, or still water,
surprise though, because each species is much more
mix. Less productive for odonates are the Huntington
than a name and a pretty combination of colors and
River, Sherman Hollow Brook, the hemlock swamp,
patterns. Even though small by our standards, each
and various seeps. With fewer species and numbers
species has its own unique life history, habitat prefer- in these environments, more patience is needed to
ences, and behaviors. When you start to study dragsurvey them, and it is thought that these areas are ofonflies you can't help but add all these interesting sto- ten under surveyed.
ries to your memory.
This study has been limited to the adult flying stage
This is an ongoing study with still much to learn and of these insects' lives and no aquatic larvae or shed
undoubtedly new species to discover. The species
exuvia were sampled. Repeated encounters with most
listed here were found over the past six spring to fall of the species over the years and the suitability of the
seasons, 2008 through 2013. The early years were
aquatic resources for their larval development lead
characterized by more enthusiasm than proficiency
me to believe that most are permanent residents.
but as my knowledge of odonates increased the study Some of the larger species of dragonflies are powerful
became somewhat more systematic. Because the adult flyers and could easily have wandered onto the study
flying phase of any given species is short, and differ- site and therefore not represent local breeders. There
ent species emerge as adults throughout the warm
are only two species located to date that the state
weather season, I've tried to visit the Nature Center
ranks as Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The
frequently and regularly. During the middle years of large Green-striped Darner, Aeshna verticals, I've only
the study I would try to visit at least once a week.
(Continued on page 8)
Since odonates inhabit a wide variety of aquatic habiBy Wally Jenkins
A
VES News - Summer 2014
Page 7
DRAGONFLIE AND DAMSELFLIES (Continued from page 7)
The recent (June 7, 2014) discovery of a Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros, by Erin Talmage at the Birds of
Vermont Museum, was exciting news for odonate
enthusiasts. This was only the fourth record in the
state for this very large and beautifully patterned
darner. As you might have guessed, Swamp Darners
are partial to swamps. Its appearance at the BOV
property was a bit of a mystery then, in a place not
known for swampiness. One had to wonder if perThe most interesting discovery for me has been how haps it just showed up in a spot where it was sure to
predictable some species are in their very specific
be noticed and appreciated. I couldn't help wonderhabitat choices. If I want to see a certain species I
ing if it had been hanging out at the adjacent Auduknow exactly where to find it because I've found it
bon Nature Center, in the hemlock swamp and assorepeatedly in a specific spot, and not anywhere else at ciated wetlands there.
the Nature Center. These species tend to be river specialists, not so much the generalists found in good
numbers at the beaver ponds.
found once in six years so doubt it is a permanent resident. The other Species of Greatest Conservation
Need is a snaketail, Ophiogomphus. Many of these are
river specialists, hard to find and even harder to net
for identification. Again, if these lotic, or moving water environments are under surveyed as suspected,
that might well account for its state status.
June is a good time to find Superb Jewelwings, Calopteryx amata, at the first bend in the river downstream
from Horseshoe Bend. They perch on sunny Japanese
Knotweed leaves there. A little further downstream
seems to be just right for Ocellated Darners, Boyeria
grafiana. Their search for flying insect prey finds them
closely following every little in and out of the river
bank, just a foot or two above the water. You'll find
them there in late summer. One of the snaketails, a
group of very colorful and elusive dragonflies, has
been seen for a few years on a more open stretch of
the river, downstream from the Main Road. Here they
like to perch on rocks in the middle of the river, at the
head of a long riffle. Try to find them in June or July
Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros
because the adults have finished with reproduction
and died off by August.
A few weeks later, much to my astonishment, I netted
a Swamp Darner at the Gilbrook Natural Area in
Another dragonfly stands out for its very specific
Winooski. It was my first visit to Gilbrook and I was
choice of habitat, the Delta-Spotted Spiketail, Corimpressed by the swampy woods, but by this time I
dulegaster diastatops. This large and colorful dragonfly had completely forgotten about Swamp Darners,
I find most often associated with beaver ponds, spethey being so rarely seen in Vermont to date. I found
cifically their inlet and outlet brooks. Here females
it not in the swampy woods but hunting a gas line
lay eggs in the sandy shallows. They are called
corridor, which doubles as the perimeter trail in one
spiketails because of the females’ long and spiky egg area. Back home studying my books I found that
laying ovipositors. If you find your way into the
Swamp Darners do hunt along power line corridors
shrub embowered outlet brook of the last beaver
and railroad beds, and apparently other utility corripond in June, you may enjoy watching her as she po- dors as well. Gilbrook's swampy woods and adjacent
goes her whole body up and down like a sewing ma- gas line corridor seemed like the best of both worlds
chine needle, injecting eggs into the sandy brook bot- for this species.
tom through an inch or so of surface water.
(Continued on page 9)
Page 8
VES News - Summer 2014
DRAGONFLIE AND DAMSELFLIES (Continued from page 8)
Fragile Forktail
Ischnura posita
Ocellated Darner
Boyeria grafiana
And then I remembered the power line cut at the
Aurora Damsel
Chromagrion conditum
Audubon Nature Center. It is adjacent to the hemlock Sedge Sprite
Nehalennia irene
swamp and bisects associated wetlands. From there it
travels up along Sherman Hollow Road and goes
Audubon Dragonflies by Family
right through the Birds of Vermont Museum property, not too far from the museum. I can't help but
Darners
think that these two conservation organizations share
Common Green Darner
Anax junius
not only a philosophy (and a power line corridor) but
Lance-tipped Darner
Aeshna constricta
Canada Darner
Aeshna canadensis
perhaps a strikingly beautiful bug that knows just
Black-tipped
Darner
Aeshna tuberculifera
where it wants to be. Many thanks to all those inShadow Darner
Aeshna umbrosa
volved who over the years helped protect these wonVariable Darner
Aeshna interrupta
derful natural areas.
Green-striped Darner
Aeshna verticalis
Northern Pygmy Clubtail, Lanthus parvulus
Audubon Damselflies by Family
Jewelwings
Superb Jewelwing
Ebony Jewelwing
Calopteryx amata
Calopteryx maculata
Spreadwings
Spotted Spreadwing
Northern Spreadwing
Lyre-tipped Spreadwing
Slender Spreadwing
Elegant Spreadwing
Lestes congener
Lestes disjunctus
Lestes unguiculatus
Lestes rectangularis
Lestes inaequalis
Pond Damsels
Taiga Bluet
Northern or Vernal Bluet
Boreal Bluet
Marsh Bluet
Hagen's Bluet
Eastern Forktail
VES News - Summer 2014
Coenagrion resolutum
Enallagma annexum or
E. vernale
Enallagma boreale
Enallagma ebrium
Enallagma hageni
Ischnura verticalis
Clubtails
Beaverpond Clubtail
Dusky Clubtail
Lilypad Clubtail
Northern Pygmy Clubtail
Snaketail species
Gomphus borealis
Gomphus spicatus
Arigomphus furcifer
Lanthus parvulus
Ophiogomphus sp.
Spiketails
Delta-spotted Spiketail
Twin-spotted Spiketail
Cordulegaster diastatops
Cordulegaster maculata
Emeralds
Beaverpond Baskettail
Racket-tailed Emerald
American Emerald
Epitheca canis
Durocordulia libera
Cordulia shurtleffii
Skimmers
Common Whitetail
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Four-spotted Skimmer
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Widow Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer
Frosted Whiteface
Belted Whiteface
Dot-tailed Whiteface
Eastern Pondhawk
Blue Dasher
White-faced Meadowhawk
Cherry-faced Meadowhawk
Band-winged Meadowhawk
Autumn Meadowhawk
Plathemis lydia
Ladona julia
Libellula quadrimaculata
Libellula pulchella
Libellula luctuosa
Libellula incesta
Leucorrhinia frigida
Leucorrhinia proxima
Leucorrhinia intacta
Erythemis simplicicollis
Pachydiplax longipennis
Sympetrum obtrusum
Sympetrum internum
Sympetrum semicinctum
Sympetrum vicinum
July 2014 Addendum
Ski-tipped Emerald
Halloween Pennant
Somatochlora elongata
Celithemis eponina
Page 9
Book Review
The Life of the Scorpion by J.H. Fabre
Review by Katie Chang
J
ean-Henri Fabre was a French scientist, best
known for his studies in
entomology. Born to a poor family, Fabre received almost no
formal scientific training and
was largely self-taught. He experimented, taught, and wrote
volumes of books on insects
during the late 1800s to early
1900s. Many agree that he
played an monumental role in
popularizing the study of insects. Much of this popularity
can be attributed to his unique
writing style. He tells the stories of the insects he meets in a
biographical form, writing in
first person, almost like a diary.
I discovered Fabre’s book, The
Life of the Scorpion, one rainy
afternoon at the library. It was
there that the spine of the elderly book called to me, worn in a loved way that
old books are. As I scanned the first couple pages,
it indeed read simple and fascinating, like a good
story book. To start, Fabre shares with us his first
scorpion encounter, when he is out searching for
centipedes for his thesis:
“Science! The witch! I used to come home with joy
in my heart: I had found some Centipedes. What
more was needed to complete my ingenuous happiness? I carried off the Scolopendrae (centipedes)
and left the Scorpions behind, not without a secret
feeling that a day would come when I should have
to concern myself with them.”
Ah yes, Science, that witch. I know her well and
the spells she weaves.
For the purpose of fully immersing himself in observing the scorpions in their natural state, Fabre
spends a good deal of time figuring out how to
Page 10
properly house his specimens. He experiments
with a number of different enclosures. His best
method for keeping the scorpions, is a built glass
aquarium tank, or “luxurious Crystal Palace” (29)
or “glazed prison” (26), which sits right outside his
front door. Keep in mind, aquariums were not exactly commercially
available in 1923, so he had to have
a “joiner” and a “glazier,” help build
one for him.
Another one of his methods, is simple capture and relocation to his
backyard. His free roaming scorpions, eventually disappear to his
dismay:
“The open-air community, on which
I based my fondest hopes, becomes
rapidly depopulated; its inhabitants make off, vanish I know not
whither. All my seeking fails to
recover a single one of these runaways.” (23)
And so, as I read on, Fabre observes and experiments on the scorpions, now that
he has found a way to keep them as guests. He
seems to feel that scorpions are timid and cautious
creatures, and he is clearly disappointed by this.
Fabre himself admits to the reader, that due to
their hideous appearance, he was expecting a vicious, fighting creature. When in fact, his observations fall far short of this. He goads the scorpions
with live prey, expecting gruesome battles, but the
scorpions either ignore or are blind to the prey in
front of them. These observations lead him to become entirely disappointed and he calls them cowards. Fabre’s frustrations are entirely humorous to
me.
“I expected something better: ‘A brute like that,’ I
said to myself, ‘so well armed for battle, cannot be
content with trifles. We do not load our peashooters with a charge of dynamite to bring down a
Sparrow… The Scorpion’s food must be some powerful quarry.’ I was wrong.” (31)
(Continued on page 11)
VES News - Summer 2014
Fabre offers the scorpions the plumpest of locusts
he can find. They are rejected, the locusts too big
and awkward to handle, with powerful kicks
straight to the mandibles.
months). At first, I am a little shocked by such
crude and cruel scientific experimentation, but
then I recall that I provided a jumping spider with
a fly just last week.
“I try a Field Cricket, with a belly as plump and
luscious as a pat of butter. I drop half-a-dozen into
the glazed enclosure, with a leaf of lettuce which
will console them for the horrors of the lions’ den.”
(32-33)
Fabre defends this, “The naturalist who questions
animals is necessarily a torturer: there is no other
means of making them speak.” (84)
While Fabre’s methods may seem brutal, I highly
enjoyed reading his account of the scorpion. His
Fabre’s curiosity and determination continues on
style of writing is simple, amusingly dated, and enas he tests again and again, sacrificing a variety of tertaining. One is drawn in by his curiosities and
poor prey to the scorpions. My heart goes out to
it is easy to feel like you are next to him, hunched
these poor victims and even the scorpions. He cuts over an aquarium, watching.
off pieces of a beetles wing to allow the scorpion
easier access to the tender beetle flesh underneath Sources:
the armor. He even amputates the wings of butter- Fabre, J.H. The Scorpion. New York: Dodd, Mead
flies so that the scorpion may more easily attack.
and Company, 1923. Print.
But as he watches, the scorpions wander about
through the crowd of butterfly cripples, completely Welcome to the Amazing World of the Insects. Reoblivious to them at their feet. Fabre even starves trieved from http://www.efabre.net/.
four scorpions to see how long the will live (nine
Member News
Bill Boccio captured this photo of Bob Spear during VES members might enjoy reading Ann Day’s July
our recent VES trip to the Birds of Vermont Museum. 17 article about dobsonflies in the Valley Reporter.
Ann Day’s female dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus
Heather Axen is Moving On! Heather is heading to
Rhode Island soon to start a post-doc at Salve Regina
in Newport. She wrote, “I'm definitely going to miss it
here!” and encourages VES members to work with
the Zadock Thompson Collection, saying , “The collection needs as much help as it can get, and the VES
has been an awesome resource. It's a huge wish of
mine that you guys all stay involved and helping
build the collection into the amazing resource it has
the potential to be. I'll forward my address as soon as
I know where I'm going to be reached at [email protected]. Take care, and let me know how everything is going!”
VES News - Summer 2014
Page 11
Goldenrod spider, Misumena vatia
Bill Boccio
Vermont Entomological Society
c/o Luke Curtis
2177 Ripton Road
Lincoln, VT 05443