Natural Science Forum / Biology / Entomology / August 2005

I saw what I think is a spider on a park bench in Munising,
Michigan, on 26 August 2005, about 1/2 a kilometer south
of Lake Superior.
Body size approx. 0.5cm, greenish color, except the hind part

We have a lot of agriculture in the four southeast counties of Michigan and
this year unlike several recent years we have had a pretty good crop of
Monarch butterflies. What I have noticed about their distribution is that
where there is a lot of milkweed along the roads and in ...

I rescued a caterpillar out of our backyard (we've been having a really
hot summer and the place he was cocooning in was a bad spot) right in
the sun.
Well, he cocooned OK indoors and yesterday came out of it (I helped a

I have a bunch of these in my garden lately ...
http://sailplane-racing.org/images%20user/moth2.JPG
thanks,

I've always liked insects but never bothered to collect them.  I'm
trying to preserve and mount a cicada that died within a few hours of
being found (he wasn't there a few hours ago).
I decided to just let him dry, so I spread out his wings and secured

I've posted a web page with photos of insects I
photographed on a recent trip through Canada and
Alaska. I believe the relevant information as to
dates and locations are listed with each photo.

Could someone please ID this moth that was found at my workplace in
Cornwall, UK in July by the pictures at:
http://www.burnsville.freeserve.co.uk/moth.htm
Cheers

I was driving along the New York State Thruway today and I saw something I'd
never seen before. At first I thought it was smoke from a passing truck.
There were clouds hanging about fifty feet above the road. Each cloud was
from a foot to three feet in diameter. And there were ...

I read somewhere that one of the easiest, most nutritious things to eat in
the woods is termites and grubs. The termites you find by breaking off
chunks of rotting logs. You can toss them in hot water to kill them and then
just drink them down. The grubs I'm not so sure about ...

I live in Alaska. We have a number of different species of wasps
and yellowjackets up here.
I'd like to know what good they do for the planet. I know that
they eat rotting meat, but s'far as I can tell, that's their

I have just been surprised by and yellow/orange and black hooped
caterpillar ascending my sleeved shoulder.  There are a number of these
things munching some of the plants in my garden, but since I have not
been out today it came as a surprise to see one.

The other day I was cruising Think Geek, and I noticed they've got this
space gel ant farm thing.  (On a side note, 'space age' materials are
now, like, 40 years old.  Hee.)  I thought it looked kind of neat, and I
probably wouldn't have too much trouble coming up with ants to ...

Lepsters,
It has been a very long time since I posted anything here, mainly because I
never arranged to have my current work email authorized, but also because I
have been chatting my brain off for several years now on Ron Gatrelle's

I've never posted here before, but I've been wondering about a creature
which has twice fallen off me and which I haven't been able to identify.
Place: Northern Europe
In both cases the "bug" was on me shortly after a walk in the woods. No