one thing I love about older scientific literature. in his 1947 paper 'Scale adaptation and utilization in Aesiocopa patulana' William Beebe fucked with a caterpillar in the wrong way and it died and he expressed genuine and poetic contrition about it in the paper itself

One of the richest veins of charming nature illustrations comes a series of books called the Pictured Key Nature Series. The series was started by Harry Edwin Jaques in the 1920s and eventually expanded to 20+ books. They were self published so #H.E.Jacques slipped cute details in everywhere.

I have no idea why I just thought of this but the scent of crayfish in ethanol still haunts me to this day after we had to study them in field zoology.

Have the gift of the knowledge that this beetle exists and is sneaking into ant nests somewhere on earth right now.

They speak ant fluently and thus, essentially, talk their way into the nests.

Melleii is also a rock solid character name.

as a pregnant person, I am making a choice to prioritize my baby by not being perpetually anxious.

Thus, I am here to share the wisdom of the ancients and the comfort they found in remembering that grasshoppers are alive and that no two living creatures are exactly alike.

Take to heart this little note from 1849 about the shared joy of the ‘innumerable minutest objects’ that are bugs.
It ends with a mayfly weighing more heavily upon a scale than the grandest symbols of legality, wealth, and power. Below it is the text “To the end of time, this will carry us.”

In times of uncertainty I try to take comfort in knowing that the cycle of innovation and loss is eternal, and that all we can do as individuals is protect the history until the cycle comes back around.

Evolution was pretty lazy. It rarely led to entirely new technologies (especially in higher organisms), but rather just jiggers existing things a bit to adapt to new environments.

It is important to try to remember the wonder one felt when one first really understood that.

5/n

Porcellio haasi adult males are surprisingly relaxed about being handled!
#porcellio #isopods #captivebred #porcelliohaasi

Oooh, just discovered Smithsonian Open Access -- unrestricted CC images that are clearly labeled by Family, genus & species! Also cute art www.si.edu/openaccess