On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 13:10:36 GMT, animaux wrote:

http://www.utep.edu/museum/archive/r...DDmedgecko.htm

Thanks for that reference, Victoria. Art Harris is someone with whom I
share a common academic ancestry.

As for ants, their population as a species far outweighs every other species
put together. In other words, there are more ants on the planet than any other
life form which can be seen with the naked eye.

You reminded me of a favorite story. A prominent biologist of the time
(I believe it was C. D. Darlington) had just given a talk on evolution
to a group of clergy. Afterward, one of them asked him what he could
discern about the Creator from having studied "His" creations. His
answer was, "An inordinate fondness for beetles."

They fly into the pool when they are swarming, but that takes about two weeks
and I simply net them and put them out back I'm held by my own belief not to
intentionally kill anything.

I try to do that, too, and am pleased that our tiny suburban wildscape
has so many critters -- birds, lepidopterans, and herps, specifically
-- that neighbors will stop on their evening walks to point them out
to their kids.

Unfortunately, some of these people will tell me, "I'd like to do that
with my yard, but ..." I just try to encourage them, but I haven't
seen anyone else do this in our subdivision. Maybe next year.

David, off to shake the seeds out of a bag-full of bluebonnets