Comments on: The Gold Bug

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:41:06 +0000

Hello Ted — thanks for the informative and amusing response! What a great story of Darwin’s. My sister-in-law, Max, would have wagged her finger at him and said ‘You shouldn’t get greedy!’ She inevitably does this just prior to one suffering a mishap such as Darwin’s and losing everything you’ve been collecting . . .

By: Beetles In The Bush

Beetles In The Bush — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:01:29 +0000

Many species of carabids, especially the large basal ones in the tribes Carabini and Anthiini, can squirt defensive secretions from their paired pygidial glands. Species of Anthia in South Africa are amusingly called "oogpisters" (eye pissers) because of this ability. Even Darwin, in his autobiography, describes an early experience with this during a collecting trip to Ireland:

A Cychrus rostratus [now Cychrus caraboides once squirted into my eyes and gave me extreme pain; and I must tell you what happened to me on the banks of the Cam, in my early entomological days: under a piece of bark I found two Carabi (I forget which), and caught one in each hand, when lo and behold I saw a sacred Panagæus crux major! I could not bear to give up either of my Carabi, and to lose Panagæus was out of the question; so that in despair I gently seized one of the Carabi between my teeth, when to my unspeakable disgust and pain the little inconsiderate beast squirted his acid down my throat, and I lost both Carabi and Panagæus!

By: Stefan

Stefan — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:27:31 +0000

Can anyone please tell me witch of the Carabus species is the one that forms a little venomous spit ball and shuts it right in your eye after holding it in your hand aprox. 10 seconds? This is not a myth and I know this for a fact because it took me a while until I understood what was happening ,every time I played with them in my garden when I was a teenager.It even happened to my dog after one time he sniffed it (I guess somehow he has in its instinct to spit exactly at the shiny eyes).I used to find them in the ground , I know I’m not confusing the bug – it looks a lot like Carabus clatratus, and perhaps it is just that even though some say it only lives in Ireland.I live in the western part of Romania.

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:50:07 +0000

Hello Joyanne,

Thanks for sharing your site =)

By: Joyanne

Joyanne — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:03:07 +0000

Connecticut is a long way from Wisconsin. Discovery in the natural world shortens that distance. I share my discovery with readers at curiousaboutnature.blogspot.com

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:18:55 +0000

Dear Bird,

Thank you so much for connecting. We’ve just begun visiting your lovely blog and your great shop — Way to Go inspiring people to explore nature and chase their dreams!

We greatly appreciate experts, and are always thrilled to learn more from experts in their fields, but like you we’re not really experts at anything in particular, and find that our best talent is helping people to get passionate about exploring their lives, their relationship to nature, and the essence of their dreams. We’re also excited to find someone who shares this vision! We got home very late tonight after a quest to see one of the elusive Timber Rattlers of Wisconsin (we didn’t see one, but we did hear one rattle quite close to us — exciting!), but tomorrow we will add you to our Awesome Nature Blogs blogroll. We’re honored to have you visiting Wild About Nature, and are excited to follow your adventures!

By: Bird

Bird — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:28:23 +0000

How beautifully put. I write a nature blog and am not an expert in anything – I just want to share the wonder, follow my own trail of discovery and hopefully encourage others to follow their own trail too. I am absolutely thrilled to find your blog and read this post which puts in a nutshell how I feel about going out with open eyes and mind. I delight in using the lovely things I see to educate myself more, but almost everything I see right now is still an unexplained wonder. I can’t tell you how good it feels to find someone else doing the same thing.

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:35 +0000

Hi Nicole —

Very understandable. We have June bugs hatching right now, and they are out mostly at night. They fly willy-nilly toward light sources, and if they land on you they cling quite tenaciously. It can be rather frightening if you’re not expecting it =) And a lot of beetles have that ‘clinginess’ to them, which can make you feel like you’ve been grabbed by something much bigger and more aggressive than the beetle really is. The colors and patterns of these creatures are simply magnificent, however, and it’s certainly fun to check them out up-close to see their details. No actual handling is required, however =)

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:07:38 +0000

This is one species that I am not too keen on. I have always been somewhat afraid of the beetle family. I am not usre why except that as a child, we always had Japanese Beetles around the flowers and my mother always put out traps. They would buzz around and land on everything in sight. I am in awe of the beauty of the creature, but you won’t catch me holding one like this.

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:12:57 +0000

Hello Ted — Thanks so much for stopping in and letting us know who this is. Caterpillar hunters — what an exciting beetle occupation. We checked them out on Google — it looks like an extremely bright and beautiful group!