Barry Flahey Fine Arts
Nature, Landscape, and Wildlife Art
Specializing in transparent watercolours, pastels, and pen & ink

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Species List for Card Backs

The following list denotes the various insects featured on cards and posters.



The Entomologists' Nightmare!!!

This text appears on rear of card in both English and French.

Collecting Humans can be great fun and an extremely interesting hobby. Use a large sweep net, so as not to damage the exceptionally delicate body coverings and appendages. Wigs, false teeth, hiking boots etc, are essential for later study and accurate identification.

Humans are found practically everywhere, usually in considerable numbers. The ideal time to start a collection is in early summer, though they are fairly active year round. Collecting humans in a given area depends on recognising various collection sites in which they are most likely to occur and involves many diverse habitats. For example, litter-dwelling types tend to hide in untidy government offices and can only be lured out by beer-baiting, or early retirement packages. Most humans are found in the vertical position. At night they tend to become horizontal, undergoing a form of moult, and crawling into a layered cocoon. Increase wing pitch or stridulate in an aggravating manner and they will emerge quite rapidly, though somewhat dazed. Excellent collecting can be had in Taverns where after an evening of imbibing, most specimens will voluntarily jump into large vials containing alcohol. Some sub-species are nocturnal, irresistibly attracted to bright lights. Examination of dance halls, theatres and apres Entomological congresses often reveal a sizable hominid fauna. Large buildings with revolving doors eject many specimens simultaneously, where they can be conveniently netted. Narrow exits from football and hockey arenas' can be used to advantage by simply excavating large pitfall traps adjacent to turnstiles. Unlighted and surreptitiously drained swimming pools provide excellent ready made pantraps.

In winter, many hominids are observed leaping around on snow, favouring hills and mountainsides. Erecting a large net at the base of a slope will add significantly to your collection. A much prized specimen is an Entomologist. These rather strange hominids tend to dash around with fixed expressions. Once captured, they must be quickly subdued as they are most cunning, behaving not at all like other Homo sapiens. Some have the appearance of being permanently stunned, and will show signs of life around 5pm. Others play dead when disturbed, but may simply be asleep at their desks. A proffered pay check may result in an spontaneous reflex. Inevitably, they attempt to escape to the nearest cafeteria from which they may not reappear until late afternoon.

Dipterists
can present a problem when pinning, being generally hairy and diverse in body structure.
Lepidopterists
, being soft bodied are mounted then spread on a large board. Hard bodied Coleopterists often must be forcibly held down by pinning forceps some giving off rather offensive body odours. They keep well, usually retaining their normal appearance and colour. Tricopterists definitely have a problem. They're dull! Many of them suffer from thoracic warts. Their young are rather scruffy individuals, often covered with bits of lint and twigs. Hymenopterists on the other hand are an interesting social group exhibiting a great diversity of habit and behaviour. They can be stored in alcohol and refrigerated indefinitely until ready for identification. Hemipterists do not generally fit any of the above descriptions. They are erratic, unpredictable and best quickly subdued with a 2 x 4. The much coveted Acarologist may be found rooting around in organic detritus, tending to congregate in overcrowded conditions of at least 5 or 6 specimens per 1000 square feet.

Overall, the scientific value of a hominid collection largely depends on the information recorded. Labels are placed on mounting pins beneath the specimens as shown in the manual. It is important to protect your collection against such degenerates as Dermestes maculatus, whose propensity for reducing hominid specimens to heaps of bare bones within days is well documented.

Garden Springtail, Bourletiella hortensis, Sminthuridae, Collembola.
Dung Rolling Beetle, Garreta nitens, Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera.
Dung Rolling Beetle, Sisyphus sp., Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera.
Human Crab Louse, Pthirus pubis, Pediculicidae, Anoplura.
Human Flea, Pulex irritans, Pulicidae, Siphonaptera.
Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa aestuans, Anthrophoridae, Hymenoptera.
Robber Fly, Laphria saffrana, Asilidae, Diptera.
Surinam Cockroach, Pycnoscelus surinamensis, Blaberidae, Orthoptera.
Odd Beetle larva, Thylodrias contractus, Dermestidae, Coleoptera.
Red Velvet Mite, Allothrombium sp., Trombidiidae, Acari.
Virgin Tiger Moth, Grammia virgo, Arctiidae, Lepidoptera.
European Earwig, Forficula auricularia, Forficulidae, Dermaptera.
Treehopper, Thelia bimaculata, Membracidae, Homoptera.
Cave Cricket, Ceuthophilus maculatus, Gryllacrididae, Orthoptera.
Botany Bay Weevil, Chrysolopus spectabilis, Curculionidae, Coleoptera.
Data label.
Microvial (for preserving terminalia)
Pitfall Trap
Wide-mouthed killing jar.
Collecting net.
Fogger.
No.10 Mounting pin (for Hominids)
Dissection scissors.
Card point.
Curved forceps.


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