Adventures in Maymont

or A One in Three Success Rate of Insect Collection

As it was apparently the last beautiful day of the season, several friends and I ventured to Maymont park. This was to be a relaxing walk, filled with a petting zoo and Koi fish. So it was -- but the real highlight of the day involved our group dealings in entomology. One of our group members, A-----, is taking a class in insect study and has a running assignment of collecting insects of different Orders and Species and other Scientific Mumbo Jumbo.

Bug #1

As we walked another group member, J------, said she saw a bug and asked A----- if she wants it. The rest of us insisted that it was a berry, but lo and behold, it was really an insect, and an unusual find for our state at that.

The Problem:

How do we store this little critter? No one has a bag and A----- beats herself up for not being prepared. A third group member, L----, does have a ziplock bag of chips and we quickly consume them in order to store the unusual (I called it Rare to make the discovery sound even better) Velvet Ant (which is not really an ant but a flightless wasp, thank you A-----). The critter is stored in my purse. But could it survive the journey?...

Bug #2

At the petting zoo, a bug landed on A------'s shirt and she got really exited and picked it up and said, "Hey it's a such-and-such, I needed this!" and we were again stuck with the problem of finding a bag for this little guy.

The Problem:
No bag. Would we find one?...

Bug #3

A grasshopper bounced away from us nearing the end of our journey and as A---- declared that they were too hard to catch and she could always get another one, I caught that effing grasshopper and held it up to the group as proudly as any four year old has ever done. We transferred it from my adept hands, to A-----, to L----'s purse's zipper pocket.

The Problem:
As A---- later inspected her well-caught and efficiently-transferred grasshopper, she noticed that one of its hind legs was missing. L---- commented that that was why I was able to catch the little bastard and I came as near to ripping her hair out as any four year old would - it took all I had not to even stick my tongue out. The fact remained that the grasshopper only had one leg. Would that matter for insect collecting?...

Answers.
Bug#3: Yep. A shitty specimen calls for a shitty grade; we let him go.

Bug#2: It didn't matter that we couldn't find a bag, because he jumped out of A-----'s hand, never to be seen by the likes of us again.

Bug#1: So it could. The little bastard was pretty hardy, spending all day in a plastic bag in my purse, though he did make some odd noises. I am told, however, that this his normal for his Rare species.

All in all a very successful venture, considering that we had no etymological goals.