Beetles everywhere
Freud would be very interested to know that I actually dreamt I found a walking stick bug for Maryn! I myself was so astonished (either at the discovery or at the fact I was dreaming about a BUG) that I woke up. Incroyable. Sadly for Maryn, that dream did not come true.
What probably precipitated that dream (besides the bugs in my freezer) was an amazing discover y of perhaps the most disgusting bug ever. Vast quantities of them. Sorry Donal, I've got your Japanese beetles beat hands down - just ask Fiona. We were at the Cousino domicile (the house with "nature written all over it" as Michael says) dropping off a boat cover. We were wandering around "the grounds" looking at all of the new developments. (Fiona doesn't like the tunnel idea.) I had previously mentioned on a phone message that there was now a $5 bounty for a walking stick bug in good frozen shape. Lo and behold, we looked down, and there was a praying mantis. It was injured and thus rejected for Maryn's collection, but then we found another one. Hurray! Into a jar it went. We were walking around the back of the house and up the hill when I spied a moving black thing in the grass. Then another. Fiona started pointing them out too. Everywhere! About an inch long. Great big bulbous segmented back ends. Madly munching mouthparts. Some mating going on too. (For Lindsey's benefit - I'm sure.) Mrs. C. kindly proferred a freezer bag and we collected 11 of the grotesque awful things. So, I now had a freezer bag of writhing, scratching, maniacal unknown disgusting things in a freezer bag! The most awful part was that you COULD HEAR THEM SCRATCHING through the bag. Really, really, really awful. What if they escaped? Could they grab hold of the bag and chew through it? I drove home pretty fast. Actually I drove to Maryn's because I did NOT want those things around me for very much longer. Seriously. Stephen King would have loved it! Upon presenting them to Maryn, she said, "Awesome! What are they?" I have no idea, bug girl! But they are yours!
At first glance Maryn thought they were rove beetles - a harmless insect eating bug. Then she told me that in fact they are blister beetles. Yes, they CAN and DO make a human's skin erupt in huge awful looking blisters. No thanks. I am not touching those behinds. Good thing Maryn froze them dead before inspecting them or letting them crawl on her. Yuck. She did say as she felt them through the freezer bag, "Oh look, they have somewhat soft leathery feeling butts." Gross. Gross. Gross.
Yes, give me pig dissections in my kitchen any day over a bag full of blister beetles!
That's the news from bugland. The bounty for the walking stick bug still stands! Be on the lookout.....
What probably precipitated that dream (besides the bugs in my freezer) was an amazing discover y of perhaps the most disgusting bug ever. Vast quantities of them. Sorry Donal, I've got your Japanese beetles beat hands down - just ask Fiona. We were at the Cousino domicile (the house with "nature written all over it" as Michael says) dropping off a boat cover. We were wandering around "the grounds" looking at all of the new developments. (Fiona doesn't like the tunnel idea.) I had previously mentioned on a phone message that there was now a $5 bounty for a walking stick bug in good frozen shape. Lo and behold, we looked down, and there was a praying mantis. It was injured and thus rejected for Maryn's collection, but then we found another one. Hurray! Into a jar it went. We were walking around the back of the house and up the hill when I spied a moving black thing in the grass. Then another. Fiona started pointing them out too. Everywhere! About an inch long. Great big bulbous segmented back ends. Madly munching mouthparts. Some mating going on too. (For Lindsey's benefit - I'm sure.) Mrs. C. kindly proferred a freezer bag and we collected 11 of the grotesque awful things. So, I now had a freezer bag of writhing, scratching, maniacal unknown disgusting things in a freezer bag! The most awful part was that you COULD HEAR THEM SCRATCHING through the bag. Really, really, really awful. What if they escaped? Could they grab hold of the bag and chew through it? I drove home pretty fast. Actually I drove to Maryn's because I did NOT want those things around me for very much longer. Seriously. Stephen King would have loved it! Upon presenting them to Maryn, she said, "Awesome! What are they?" I have no idea, bug girl! But they are yours!
At first glance Maryn thought they were rove beetles - a harmless insect eating bug. Then she told me that in fact they are blister beetles. Yes, they CAN and DO make a human's skin erupt in huge awful looking blisters. No thanks. I am not touching those behinds. Good thing Maryn froze them dead before inspecting them or letting them crawl on her. Yuck. She did say as she felt them through the freezer bag, "Oh look, they have somewhat soft leathery feeling butts." Gross. Gross. Gross.
Yes, give me pig dissections in my kitchen any day over a bag full of blister beetles!
That's the news from bugland. The bounty for the walking stick bug still stands! Be on the lookout.....
posted by M.O.M. | 11:10 AM
1 Comments:
that is totally nasty... but even big and gross i'm not sure if they beat 5 lbs of japaneses beetles every day, writing and mating... ewww... now my skin is crawling...
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