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I took my first spring insect photos today after seeing a queen bumblebee flying around the garden. There were quite a few hoppers about, one of which I photographed:

Stenocranus minutus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

I’m hoping to go out and catch one because I can’t quite get enough detail in a photo, but I will be getting a new (macro) lens which should help when taking photos of small insects! I had a look on the British Bugs site but didn’t see anything which had the black mark on the wing (until Joe identified it for me on Flickr!).

Tonight’s episode of QI (now in the “F” series) had a flora and fauna theme, of which one of the topics was flea circuses. I had always thought that flea circuses were mechanical and did not use fleas, but Stephen Fry has dispelled me of my ignorance! It seems that this is a common misconception and that flea circuses did use live fleas, although there were some mechanical “flea circuses” too.

I’ve wanted to take a look at the portrayl of insects in society and had intended to start with how they are used in computer games and looking at how accurately they are represented. I was recently impressed by the scorpions in Fallout 3 which even had pectines!

For now I shall start with something a little older. Whilst cataloguing some books I came across one on metaphysical poetry and one of the poems it contained was John Donne’s (1572-1631) ‘The Flea’ which is full of sexual and religious imagery, not something you first think of when you think about fleas.

The Flea

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny’st me is ;
It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas, is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we’re met,
And cloister’d in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck’d from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
‘Tis true, then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

If you would like to read a summary of the poem you can at SparkNotes.

It’s interesting to note that fleas were often written about in 16th and 17th century European poetry, but I suppose people saw them more often than we do now. I can’t recall any modern poetry about fleas!

I have recently received the December issue of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES) journal, The Bulletin, which has a strong orthopteroid theme this month and announced a number of affiliations. This post is a brief summary of the some of the news and articles.

The AES are now formerly affiliated with the Quekett Microscopical Club and the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The AES Bug Club Magazine will now be produced in partnership with the Royal Entomological Society.

The first article, written by Ed Baker, covering orthopteroid insects was a summary of internet resources for the orders Orthoptera, Phasmida, Mantodea and Blattodea. Each of these orders have an online taxonomic database made using Species File Software and the Phasmida and Blattodea have their own active enthusiasts’ groups, the Phasmid Study Group and the Blattodea Culture Group, which use the European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy’s Scratchpad software. Links to all of the sites mentioned in the article can be found below (and some are already in the side links).

The second article, written by Dr Peter Sutton, covered the launch and details of the Orthopteroids of the British Isles Recording Scheme and Website. I have briefly written about the recording scheme before but if you want more details on the scheme then the article is worth reading.

The third article, written by Dr Peter Sutton, documented a search in Massif Central, France for the threatened bush-cricket, Gampsocleis glabra.

The last article I found particularly interesting was ‘Notes on Collecting Fleas’ by Bob George. Fleas are one of the orders that I’ve spent little time studying, so I found this a useful and inspiring read. The article covered methods of collecting and some of the legal/ethical responsibilities when collecting.

Links:

Blattodea Species File | Blattodea Culture Group

The Cockroach Forum | Phasmid Species File | Phasmid Study Group

Phasmatodea.de | Mantodea Species File | Mantis Study Group |

Mantophasmatodea.de | Orthoptera Species File

Dermaptera Species File

Reference:
Wilkins, P. (Ed.) and Hough, M. (Ed.). The Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society, vol. 67, no. 481. December 2008.