Monday, December 08, 2008

There Were Legs and Antennae Everywhere...

So, for any aspiring entomologists, here is some sage advice, from the "I Learned It the Hard Way" files:

No matter how much your dog thinks he is "helping" with your insect collection, when you combine 80 pounds of canine klutz with a box full of fragile, meticulously arranged and labeled invertebrates, catastrophe will inevitably ensue.

Especially try to avoid allowing said catastrophe to happen under these conditions:

  • The collection is worth 100 out of 150 points for your final lab grade.
  • The collection is due within 48 hours.
  • It is too cold and late in the season to find new bugs to replace the smashed ones.
There were legs and antennae everywhere . . . it is incredibly disheartening to have to literally suck up your grade with a vacuum cleaner. . .

The situation can be helped if you happen to have sufficiently nerdy friends, who may have random insect specimens sitting around their apartments. I never thought the words "I know I have a Pentatomid around here somewhere..." could ever be so beautiful.

Take home message: German shepherds are wonderful at many things, but entomology ain't one of them.

Can you tell he knows he's in trouble?