Stink bugs are showing up in London, another global warming clue. But the real fun here is the source of the research – Max Barclay, who is described in the stories as curator of beetles at the Natural History Museum in London. How cool a title is that?
jfleck at inkstain
A few thoughts from John Fleck, a writer of journalism and other things, living in New Mexico
Still trying to push that global warming nonsense…huh? Just too bad the facts don’t support it.
The Natural History Museum has the world’s largest collection of beetles; by far their largest collection, and one of the biggest entymology collections in the world. Someone has to curate that archive.
Beetles are one of the best innovators and an acomplished animal, it is questionable whether we and rats are doing as well as we think we are (global warming aside) compared to these little bugs. One in every five living creatures is a beetle, and there are more species of beetle than there are different animals. On one occasion, asked, “What do your studies tell you about the mind of God?” Darwin replied, “That He had an inordinate fondness for beetles.” I think he may have been right.
It was J.B.S. Haldane, actually, though it’s apparently not clear but that it might be apocryphal. Still, a great line:
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Beetles.html