NEWSLETTER of the MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY Volume 30, Number 1 March 8, 1985

Lord of Taxonomy

Erik Calonius The Wall Street Journal

In the British Museum of Natural History, Among recent petitions 1S one from a scien­ Panthera leo, an old stuffed lion, and tist requesting name changes for three species Ornithorh~hus anatinus, a duckbill platypuS, of grouper. Another asks for a decision on the peer out of their glass cases. Nearby, the names of two curculionid weevils. A juicier long dinosaur, Diplodocus carnegiei, drapes its file holds arguments from Soviet and American vertebrae across the main hall. Most of the scientists. The Americans want the genus name, museum's 50 million specimens, however, are in Gnathodus, as it appears in U.S. scientific black rooms, tucked neatly away be scientific literature, to be sanctioned as the name for name. species of microscopic fossil often found in Since Linnaeus', time nearly two million oil-bearing rock. The Soviets insist that additional species of living things have been Gnathodus is a genus covering different fossil found. And each year another 7,000 to 10,000 species altogether. Unfortunately, the Soviets new species are discovered, and in some cases ~ had lost their original specimens. single animal may have 10 different names-­ "This is hot," says Mr. Melville, bran­ often because of the careless research of dishing the thick file. He makes a sour face scientists. Several animals sometimes share a at a suggestion that he open it, but he con­ single name, at least until closer examination fides that the Soviets have actually demolished reveals that they aren't a single species. buildings in their search for fossil specimens All this spells trouble for zoologists and that would support their argument. work for the International Commission on But is all this simply a tempest in a test Zoological Nomenclature, an independent body of tube? To scientists who believe the saying 27 scientists, which sorts out the mess. that "God created all plants and animals, and "You can't expect a system like that to Linnaeus put them in color," the idea of impro­ exist without an occasional rub," says Richard perly named species floating about is discon­ Melville, 70 years old, and the fifth secretary certing. "We could end up with something of the commission since its founding in 1895. resembling anarchy in what butterflies are Yet the discrepancies must be corrected, he called, says John R. Turner, a geneticist who insists. "It is important that the name convey has asked the commission to clear up condusion exactly the same meaning to everyone who reads involving two similar butterflies. The two it," he says. species have been used for 30 years for Working out of a small attic office in the research in neurology and genetics, and a con­ natural history museum, Mr. Melville and a fusion in nomenclature weakens research find­ staff of three field the requests of scientists ings, even as substituting salt for sugar in a who want the names of animals changed. -ecipe would ruin a cake. Eventually, the scientists on the board-­ In other species, clarity of names is even selected from museums and universities around more important. Take Anopheles gambiae, one of the world--render final decisions. "There must the most dangerous malaria-carrying mosquitoes. be a bureau that one can apply to," says the Once thought to be a single species, it really white-haired scientist, "There can be only one, is six, recent research has shown. Each of and we are the only one." Continued on p. 7

The NEWSLETTER of the Mi chigan Entomological Socie ty is published as four numbers yearly . at irregular intervals . Pleas e send all notes, news , new ins ect records, research req~es:s, notices season summaries membership inquiries, etc. to the Executive Secretary, Mlchlgan Ento­ mologic~l Society, Dept. ~f Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824. FOR SALE: Insect Pins; Std. Black, Elephant, Officers of M.E.S. Stainless Steel, Minutens and Label Pins. Sizes 000 thru 7 available. For complete list write: Ianni Butterfly Ent~rprises, P. O. Box President ...... Dave Evans 81171, Cleveland, Ohio, 44181. (216) 888-9763. President-Elect . . . . . Dave Cowen Immediate Past President Gary Dunn FOR SALE: Worldwide, collectible butterflies, Executive Secretary . . . Mo Nielsen Beetles and rare insects, named with data. For Member-at-Large (1982-85) Fred Stehr subscription to butterfly and beetle price Member-at-Large (1983-86) Glenn Belyea lists send $5.00 to Ianni Butterfly Member-at-Large (1984-87) Gary Simmons Enterprises, P.O. Box 81171, Cleveland, Ohio, Journal Editor . . . . . Dave Gosling 44181. Newsletter Editor . . . . Louis Wilson Associate Newsletter Editor George Heaton BOOKS FOR SALE: Beetles of the World, Gakken. A magnificent color pictorial reference book containing illustrations of over 600 worldwide beetles with English names and origins. Text Notices , 1 is Japanese, ($32.50 postpaid). Beetles, L~~) . . .. Bernard Klausnitzer. Fascinating and most interesting representatives of the beetle (Notices will be run for a year or 4 numbers family. Fantastic color & b/w illustrations of of the Newsletter unless notified to dPOD many rare and extraordinary species. ($21.50 them. Members des1:r1:ng longe'r runs Sh07Aid postpaid). The Dictionary of Butterflies and notifv newsletter editor, L. F. Wilson, Dept. Moths, Lathwait, Watson & Whalley, 405 color of Forestry, M1:ch1:gcm State Um:versity, 48824) photographs representing over 1000 species in this A-Z Dictionary that is chock full of facts such as size, habitat, etc. An excellent addi­ WANTED: Data on Michigan butterflies for use tion to any library. Send $19.50 (postpaid) to in a new publication on the butterflies of Ianni Butterfly Enterprises, P. O. Box 81171, Michigan. Doubtful specimens can be forwarded Cleveland, Ohio, 44181. for determination or confirmation. Especially interested in Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae rec­ FOR SALE: Malaise Traps. Design with proven ords. Contact M. C. Nielsen, 3415 Over lea superior efficiency, as described and figured Dr., Lansing, MI 48917 (517-321-2192). DV Townes In Entomological News (83: 239-247). Complete with stakes. $198, postpaid. Order WANTED: Studies on the Comparative Ethology of from: Golden Owl Publishers, Inc., 182 Digger Wasps of the Genus Bembix by Evans; Chestnut Rd., Lexington Park, MD 20653. Phone Beetles of the Pacific Northwest by Hatch (301) 863-9253. (5 vol.); Biology of the Leaf Miners by Hering; The Ecology of Plant Galls by Mani. FOR SALE: The very rare butterfly Zerynthia Write stating condition and price to John E. &Qlyxena that lives only within a limi:ed ~rea Holzbach, 229 MaY'·wod Drive, Youngstown, Ohio, of the southern French Alps near the R~ver~a. 44512. (long run) It feeds only on Aristochia spp. Have a few specimens for sale to private collectors RESEARCH NOTICE: To those participating in the interested in the rare and unusual. Color pic­ Sesiidae pheromone Project, if you have caught tures and price available upon request. If anything interesting wirh the pheromone interested write: Dr. Charles J. van Assche, please notify me at your convenience. I can be Super Rouviere B. 7, 83, boulevard du Redon, reached evenings at (312) 237-0543 or write to 13009 Marseille, France. Dr. John Holoyda, 2819 N. Marmora, Chicago, IL Dr. van Assche plans to be in the U.S. the last 60634. (long run) two weeks of June 1985 and could bring speci­ mens with him. FOR SALE: "Bee Keeping," Benton (1897); "Pests of Orchard and Garden," Taft/Davis EXCHANGE: I want Buprestidae and Rutelinae (1895); "Diptera Collected on Whitefish from Europe, especially all neartic species, in Point." Andrews (1915); "Bees from ...Northern exchange for beetles or other insects from Pen ...Mich.," Cockerell (1916); "Oriental Europe and Africa. If interested, write to Fruit Moth Invest. in Ohio," Gigli Maurizio, Via Monte Macereto 13-00141, Stearns/Neiswander (1930); "Rev. of the Puer Roma, Italy. Group of N.A...Melanoplus ...", Hubbell, (1932); "The Population Dynamics of.. Winter WANTED: I am seeking photographs of Moth in Nova Scot ia," Embree, (1965); " .. N.A. publishable quality that depict the life cycle Aegeriidae: A. Rev. based on Late-Instar of a North American firefly, preferably Photinus pyralis. I am the author of several Larvae," Mackay, (1968); "Mon. of ..Western children's science books published by Dodd Hem. Bumblebees .. " Milliron (1971-73). Mead and Company, Inc., New York. This same Contact M. C. Nielsen 3415 Overlea Dr., publisher has asked me to locate photographs Lansing, MI 48917. 2 for a book about fireflies. If anyone has Relatives of Insects information please write: Charlene W. A Bug is a Bug! (Hemiptera) Billing's, 39 Coburn Ave., Nashua, NH 03063, Social Insects or call (603) 889-2070. Insect ears CORRESPOND: Italian entomologist interested in Insect sounds The good guys (parasites and predators) Papilionidae, Morphidae, Lucanidae, and. Scarabaeidae of the world wants to obtaln spe­ Lacewings cimens from many countries, and would like to Wasps know the address of some dry insect dealers in Mosquitoes the U.S. or elsewhere in the world. Please Mimics (Insects you don't see) write to: Marco Mastrocicco, Via Anselmina 1, Economic pests 10020 Lauriano (TO) ITALY. Some wingless insects & where to find them Common ground beetles Mounting butterflies FOR SALE : Offering various publications, Common grasshoppers including reprints, on emtomology, especially Little known insects & where they live l e pidoptera. Many old papers now out of Household insects print. Please send your request to Dr. A.E. Insect damage Brower, 8 Hospital St., Augusta, Maine Garden spiders 04330. Fruit insects Easy to make insect traps WANTED : Reprints, or any references, dealing Simple experiments with sowbugs (woodlice) with the contents of bird stomachs. A larva is a larva unless its a caterpillar Especially interested in studies dealing with Insect baits lepidoptera found in stomachs of passerine , What's that under that rock? birds of prey and other forest birds. Please Longhorn beetles send information to Dr. A.E. Brower , 8 Insect genetics Hospital St., Augusta , Maine 04330. Collembola Leafhoppers WANTED: Live larva of any tiger beetle and Water mites live true katydids, both male and female. Phalangids Will pick up anywhere and pay for the catch Swallow-tails and phone call. Please write : Glenn Caddis flies Firebaugh, 3636 Hoiles, Toledo, Ohio 4361 2, Insect behavior or phone (419) 478-8314. Click beetle (experiments) Harmful anthropods Rearing spiders in containers Calling All Writers Collect & preserve spiders Staphylinids Odonata Will the writers out there please stand up! Thrips We need you. Here is your opportunity to serve Jumping spiders your Society in an enjoyable way - by writing an Insect myths MES note. We need your emtomological expertise. Insect communication You don't even need to be an expert - just Underground insects interested in researching a subject. Just give Insect societies us a few hours of your time and we'll have you Insect farmers in print. Water insects Our goal has been to publish at least 100 MES Assassin bugs notes. So far, we've only reached 15 % of that Cicadas goal. With your help we could publish one note Long-lived insects or more in each newsletter. There are hundreds Scale insects of subjects to write. We've listed several Blister beetles potential ones below to get the gray matter Mecopters moving. C'mon, what do you have to lose! Stinging caterpillars Send in some ideas, an outline, or a complete Casebearers manuscript. MES notes are single sheets, two Tent builders sides. See past published notes for style. The Migratory insects draft must not exceed 5 3/4 pages of double­ Insects as food for man space type on 8 1/2 x 11 in. paper . Good Insects in medicine and surgery drawings or photos may accompany the note, but Insects in scientific research the type is then proportionately less. We will Aesthetic value of insects do final typing, paste -up, etc. All you need Insects that transmit disease to do is write it and send it in to: L. F. "How to" -- mount , collect, etc. Wilson, NEWSLETTER EDITOR, Room 20, 1407 S. Experiments with insects Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48823. Here are some ideas for Notes: 3 species such as the Peacock and Speckled XERCES Society Meets Wood, Brimstone ,and Chalkhill Blue. We'll have lots of opportunity for mothing, birding This 1985 Xerce s meetings will be hosted and wildflower study as well. by the Entomology Division of the Peabody Our journey will take us leisurely through Museum of Natural History of Yale University, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Dorset, in New Haven, CT. The scheduled program will Hampshire and Sussex. Traditional English begin with a "social" on Wednesday evening, attractions will not be neglected -- castles, June 5th, and the symposia and paper sessions cathedrals, enchanting villages and great will be all day Thursday, Friday, and pubs will figure into the itinerary along Saturday. Field excursions and possibly a with natural history. Driving time will be Society business meeting are contemplated for kept to the minimum as we venture out on day Sunday for those who wish to stay that long. trips from Cambridge, Oxford, and other Housing and meals will be provided in the amenable centers. Nights will find us Yale residential colleges, lodging to be at lodging in first-rate country inns of $19.50 per person per night. Meetings will character, or fine town hotels. The list of be in the Museum complex, and the extensive destinations includes names well known to all Entomology collections, including the students of British nature --Darwin's Wicken Extinction and Rare & Endangered units, will Fen, Gilbert White's Selborne, and the Wessex be accessible during the meeting days. .downs and heaths of Hardy fame. The reserves THIS IS THE PRELIMINARY ANNOUCEMENT, to on our list include Monks Wood, Birnwood alert you to the dates and places, and give Forest, Old Winchester Hill, and Compton Down enough lead time so that many actively on the glorious Channel coast of the Isle of involved members can arrange time in their . Wight. 1985 calendars. Much of the meeting period Most of the fourteen days will find us will be devoted to the several invitational accompanied by scientists, wardens, lepidop­ symposia on issues of present urgency in terists and others who work to save British insect conservation, and time is marked off butterflies. We hope to have Dr. Martin for short submitted papers as well. There Warren as our full-time resident expert, will be ample exhibition space for demonstra­ while Pat Torrie will tell us about Butterfly tions, so planning of displays is especially Year and John Heath will show us Monks Wood. encouraged. One evening ses sion will be for We will lunch at Miriam Rothschild's slide showing; begin picking out a few of Chequered Skipper Pub, and be hosted for an your choicest photographs. Members at Yale evening by the Hampshire Branch of the are Larry Gall (the new Editor of Atala) and British Butterfly Conservaton Society. Chris Nagano. Midway in the tour the group will visit Robert Goodden's Worldwide Butterflies and the famous Lullingstone Silk Farm, and the Special Post Xerces Meeting trip will conclude with a special tour of Clive Farrell's Syon Park Butterfly House Join Bob Pyle and a host of British but­ near Kew Gardens. There will be plenty of terfly experts for a very special and comple­ time to enjoy London, from BritiSh Museum of tely unique tour of Southern England next Natural History to Harrod's and the mews and June. pubs of Belgravia or the West End theaters Butterfly-lovers, conservationists and and Thames-side concert halls and museums. Anglophiles will find this small, intimate Tour departs New York, June la, ends in tour especially enjoyable. Limited to fif­ London June 24. teen members and friends of the Xerces Tour leader will be Dr. Robert Michael Society, the tour will explore a great Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society, variety of natural and beautifully managed celebrated teacher and author of the Audubon habitats as we encounter a large portion of Soci~ Field Gu~de !.£ NortJ.! American the British butterfly fauna. Not a BUtterflies and Audubon Society Handbook for collecting trip (though some limited indivi­ ~u~~erfl1e~ watchers. Bob spent a year in dual collecting may be possible in some Britain studying butterfly conservation as a locales), the trip will emphasize close-up Fulbright Scholar. Later he taught at the butterfly watching and photography 1n lovely Vale of Catmose College in Rutland and worked natural settings. on the Invertebrate Red Data Book in Great Britain is the birthplace of but­ Cambridge, getting to know the country and terfly conservation. Nowhere else can the its flora and fauna well in his four years of public enthusiasm for butterflies be matched. British residence. He has led buttefly Traveling in two mini-vans, our group will watching expeditions for the National visit many of the most famous and attractive Wildlife Federation Rocky Mountain Summits, nature reserves. We will seek out some of Cloud Ridge Naturalists, the British Field the rarer species such as the Large Copper, Studies Council, and many other groups. Duke of Burgundy, Marsh Fritillary, Adonis For further details of tour, send name and Blue and The Swallowtail, and investigate address to Carol Pinnell, Journeys, 822 N.W. protection measures for them in the field. 23rd, Portland, OR 97210. Along the way, tour members should see many 4 1985 M.E.S. Meeting Lep. Society Meets in July

Your Society will have its annual meet~ng You Clre ... llvlLe(J tu [he 36th AnnuClL on June 14 and 15, 1985. This is the first Meeting, 18-21 July 1985, at the University notice, but set aside the days now. This of Illinois Campus, Urbana-Champaign, IL, co­ year's meeting will be held at the University hosted by the Illinois State Museum (ed of Michigan's Biological Station near Cashatt) and the Illinois Natural History Pellston, MI. The Society has not yet met Survey (G. L. Godfrey) in cooperation with there since its Silver Anniversary in 1979. the U. of Illinois' Department of Entomology. Once again a northern meeting is being Special features of the meeting will include: arranged for purposes of giving "northern" A Triubute to Stanley B. ~racker and Edna member a better opportunity to attend and Mosher: Symposium on Lepidopterous Larvae participate in a more active way. Mark your and Pupae; Computer Workshop for calendar and fill out the pre-registration Lepidopterists : Home-based and Institutional form in this newsletter. Research Programs; and much more. Also how about presenting a paper at the To receive pre-registration materials and meeting. If you can, fill out the Call for to have your paper considered for inclusion Papers form and send it in to Dave Cowan. He in the Scientific Sessions, complete and mail needs your support to make it an exemplory the following form by 1 April 1985 to: program. Papers, of course, given at the George L. Godfrey, Illinois Natural History meeting are eligible for publishing in either Survey, Natural Resources Building, 607 E. the Great Lakes Entomologist or the ~eabody, Champaign, lL 61820. Newsletter. Please send in the Forms by April 25, 1985. Ent. SOC. of Pennsylvania

ESP, an organization of enthusiastic ama­ Michigan Academy Meets teur and professional entomologists, firmly believes that entomology is FUN and welcomes The 1985 Michigan Academy of Science, Arts others to join their ranks, especially if and Letters meeting is planned for March they are interested in Pennsylvania insects and their habitats. In addition to having 22-23, 1985 on the campus of Michigan State field trips and and Annual Meeting, ESP University in East Lansing, MI. Many publishes the quarterly news/BULLETIN and the interesting papers have been submitted for journal, THE MELSHElMER. Annual dues are the Zoology Section of the meeting. For $8.00 for regular, $4.00 for student and details call (517) 463-7111, or write Richard $25.00 for sustaining associate members. Bowker, Dept. of Biology, Alma College, Alma, Applications for membership can be obtained MI 48801. from the Treasurer, Dr. R.A.J. Taylor, Dept. o t Entomology, Penn State University, The Thrill of The Hunt University Park, PA 16802.

The thrill of the hunt has caught my eye As I gazed upon a butterfly-­ Moth Fascicle Up-Date For here I am part of a field Where watching time becomes unreal. We have just learned that numerous other Here I be in private glory fascicles of MOTHS OF AMERICA are in prepara­ Try'in to track down my company, tion and planned to be published at 9-12 For it is something I've never seen month intervals (that's better than the six­ Through the thicket and fields of green. plus year hiatus since the last one appeared!). The latest word is that a new Now from flower to flower I run fascicle featuring the Emeral Moths (18.1, Where nature becomes my fun, GEOMETROIDEA: Geometridae: Geometrinae, by But my butterfly knows the game Ferguson) is scheduled for May, 1985. This Though my net's always proven good a~m. publication will include approximately 145 pages, 4 colored plates and 31 text figures. Through rough terrain I keep a smile A pre-publication offer for $45.00 (plus And patience makes it all worth-while-­ postage, shipping) will be good till 30 April Well this is it, either me or you 1985, after which the price will be $55.00. With my upper hand a dream came true. Here's your opportunity to get better acquainted with the Geometridae, and at the The thrill of the hunt had caught my eye same time support this monumental effort to As I gazed upon a butterfly-­ continue to feature the latest knowledge of And I offer immortality our moth fauna supported by beautiful colored To see God's everlasting beauty. plates! After the Geometrid fascicle, publi­ cation schedule will treat the phycitine Peter Lisk 5 pyralid genus Acrobasis and allies, the The IPM, Practitioner gelechiid tribe Dichomeridini, and the noc­ tuid genus Euxoa. Send your order in NOW, Each month the IPM Practitioner carries and requests for prices on previously research reports, journal abstracts, book published fascicles to: Entomological reviews, product and service announcements, a Reprint Specialists, P.O. Box 77224, reader's column and articles on the state-of­ Dockweiler Station, Los Angeles, CA 90007. the-art in managing insect, mite, weed, ver­ (2l3) 227-1285 (Mon. only). tebrate, and plant pathogen pests. It covers research and applications in agriculture, urban horticulture and structures, forestry, Society Dues veterinary science and public health. Complete citations tell where to write or phone for further information on items of The Executive Secretary wishes to THANK special interest. It features interviews all members who have already remitted their with and exchanges between readers that pro­ 1985 dues! Approximately half of the mem­ vide insights into the problems, techniques bership paid their dues by the first week of and solutions of others with similar concerns. January-the BEST response ever!! There are a Also it fills the gap between the scien­ few members still in arrears; please pay tific journals and the person in the field. these dues so your membership remains Emphasis is on the most effective and least­ current. Also, our thanks to those members toxic methods. Now completing its 6th year who became sustaining members, and to those of publication, the IPM Practitioner's world­ who generously sent donations. Keep 'em wide circulation puts people in contact with coming. the most exciting developments and people in the field. For more information write: The IPM Practitioner, P.O. Box 7414, Berkeley, CA Special Request 94707, (415) 524-2567.

About 75% of Heliothine species are repre­ sented as adults but very few as immatures in the British Museum; the Stirriinae are very Chalcid Wasp Book poorly represented even as adults. I have just begun a cladistic analysis of rela­ tionships between the species-group/genera within the Heliothinae, and hope to produce The Families and Subfamilies of Canadian cladograms from characters of immatures to Chalcidoid Wasps Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea both test and add to those from adult charac­ Prepared by Carl M. Yoshimoto is a new handbook ters. My attention also focuses on the that deals with 16 families and 50 subfamilies Stirriinae (as the probable sister-group) to of the Superfamily Chalcidoidea known to occur establish character polarity in the in Canada and northern USA. The purpose of the Heliothinae. Very few adult Stirriinae and book is to assist students, technicians, agri­ no immatures exist in the BM. cultural and forestry entomologists, and I thus request early stages of Heliothinae reserch scientists in identifying the chalci­ and Stirriinae (preserved in alcohol) with doid wasps in biological control programs. the adults which they produce/produced them Keys, both in English and French, are provided (preserved dry). Information on food-plant, for the separation of the adults. Notes on larval feeding-behavior, adult-behavior, biology, fossils, classification, pertinent habitat-type and so-on will be similarly references, and family diagnoses are provided. greatly received. Anatomical terms and a glossary are included. A list of Heliothinae not represented even Line drawings of adults are illustrated. 160 as adults in the BM(NH) is appended. pages. 15 cm x 23 cm. 95 Figures. $5.95 Examples are requested if they can be spared Canadian. or loaned. (If the latter please indicate To order give catalogue number whether or not dissection permitted). A42-42-l983-l2E (Code E9l40l). Orders must be Microhelia restrictalis (Smith), Heliothodes prepaid by postal money order or cheque made to joaquin (McD), Erythroecia hebardi the order of the Receiver General for Canada (Skinner), E. euposis (Dyar), Pyrrhia immixta and addressed to the Canadian Government (Dyar). Similarly for Stirriinae: Publishing Centre, Ottawa, Canada KIA OS9. Grotellaforma vagans Barnes & Benj., ~ Also available through authorized bookstore margueritaria Blanch. ~ olivacea B & McD, agents or your local bookseller. Add 20% to G. blanchardi McElv., G. vauriae McElv .. prices for books to be shipped outside Canada. Please contact: Marcus Matthews, Dept. of Payable in Canadian Funds. Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. ENGLAND. 6 LORD, continued from p. 1 Often, names are logical: Ardea cinerca, them has its own geographic distribution and for instance, is Latin for gray heron. lethality. The same is true of the genus Garru1us glandarius, the name for the ja~ is Simulium, which is mostly harmless black flie~. also reasonable; Garrulus for the talkat~ve But one species Simulium damnosum, is animal, and gladarius, meaning belonging to the responsible for causing blindness on a major corns, to describe what the bird likes to eat. scale in some parts of Africa. But Denis Owen, a zoologist at Oxford Scientists are turning up thousands of new ' olytechnic University, says the names some­ species every year. Some 800,000 insects are imes are inapt. An ill-informed scientist known, and scientists are sure another million oave the American turkey the name Me1ugris or so are waiting in the wings. A species is gallopavo. "Me1egaris is Greek and means a the basic unit of living things, and, sort of guinea fowl, which it is not." Mr. generally, animals of the same species look Ownen says. "Gallus is Latin and means alike. The "ultimate test" traditionally has chicken, which it is not. And pavo is also been to put a male and female together, dim the Latin and means peacock, which it is not." The lights, and see if they can reproduce. greatest misnomer may be man's own name, Homo Sometimes the results are misleading, sapiens, he says. After all, sapiens means however. Two creatures that can't reproduce wise. may have problems of their own (a headache But what a name means is of little interest perhaps). One scientist recalls being unable in the Zoological Nomenclature Commission. to mate two pairs of silkworms of the same spe­ "The name is like a baggage tag," says Mr. cies. When he swapped mates, however, he got Melville, a retired paleontologist. "The tag more silkworms. "I can only assume the first doesn't tell you what the bag looks like, or sets didn't like each other," he says. what is in it. It simply identifies it." As Scientists these days enjoy more sophisti­ for popular or vernacular names, such as cated tools than they used to have with which calling Prunella modu1aris a hedge sparrow, to differentiate species. The scanning they have "no status in zoological microscope, with magnifying powers 1,000 times nomenclature." greater than a conventional light microscope, What does count in determining the validity is revealing hitherto unseen differences in of a name is the commission's law of primacy: scabies mites that would matter only to scabies Whatever the animal was first named--regard1ess mites themselves. Grasshoppers identical in of the spelling or meaning of the name--is con­ appearance are being identified as different sidered the last word on the subject. The only species by scientists who record grasshopper way a scientist can ask for that name to be "songs" on oscillograms. Recently two African changed is if the original name has fallen into bush crickets, Thyridorhoptrum senegalense and disuse (having been superseded by another name) Tyridorhoptrum baileyi, thought for centuries or if it can be shown that the original name to be the same species, were distinguished wasn't meant fot the specific critter to which because of the slight variation in the sound­ it is applied today. producing forewings that are revealed in To research such problems, the commission oscillograms. has come quite naturally to its office in the There is but one acceptable way to name a British museum, where its staff can trace back new species, and that is outlined in the names through the museum's 750,000 volumes of Nomenclature Commission's code. Mr. Melville scientific works, its 17,000 periodicals, and keeps a thumbed copy of the hardbound book on its collection of nearly 50 million specimens. his desk. "This isn't like naming your dog The independent commission has been hobbling Spot," he explains, as he leafs through the along for several years on a dwindling budget tome. There are rules to be followed, and any and each year appeals to scientists and name that breaches them is vulnerable. a"ademic institutions for the $100,000 it needs The code says that names must be, "short to stay in business. Mr. Melville says his and euphonic in Latin"; they must be of more secretary is retiring soon, and he'll retire than a single letter; their spelling shouldn't next year. But someone will take over, he is be too close to related names; nor should they sure. Examining a petition in which the names suggest, "a bizarre, comical, or otherwise of two bees that pollinate alfalfa are mixed objectionable meaning." In addition, says the up, he says. "You just can't afford confusion code, the original specimen to which the name in the names of such important insects as is attached must become the "property of ti1ese. Someone has to set things straight." science." Having followed the rules, a scientist who had found a new species can name it whatever he WALKING LEAVES chooses, providing he publishes the name in a professional journal and gives the specimen to My travelled Uncle 'ihlliam a museum or other institution for safekeeping. Saw a leaf-insect, or PhyZZium, Although naming a species after oneself is When reclining 'neath a bo-tree's shady limb. frowned upon, scientist often circumvent that At least that's what he said, problems by asking a colleague to do the naming But I'm sure we've been misled, for them. "or he really did not see it; it saw him! 7 s: MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ® Membership Application -~ ; Please enrol I me as a member of the Michigan Entomo­ =~~ :z~ logical Society, in the classification checked below. ,..., 1110 ---I D Student Member (i nc Iud i ng those current I y enro I led en en (/)--0»~111 ~ as college sophomores)--annual dues $4.00 ~ rI;U~()> s: [] Active Member--annual dues $8.00 = »Gi~ ~ = Z»~ r­ D Institutional Member (organizations, libraries, ;!:: ~z~ ~ etc.)--annual dues $15.00 ~ ~~~ c;:) --4 » 0 D Sustaining Member--annual contribution $25.00 or = ~-i"T1 ~ more • :z: - 111 111 ::t> • [NOTE: Membership is on a calendar year basis (Jan. °C Z ,...,= !Z~G)-O r­ I-Dec. 31). 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