No, the first annual WBA Conference in Winthrop was not all serious, concentrated work. Yes, first-rate lectures on butterflies and the exciting outings to find them were key activities, but there was lots of time for laughter, too.

Much of the humor was, as usual in WBA affairs, sparked by our peerless trip leader, Dick Lindstrom. All who have attended WBA’s monthly open meetings in the U.W. Urban Horticultural Center have experienced Dick’s must-be-seen-to-be-believed WBA hand signals, and his vocalized greetings as well. But his antic carryings on at the conference hit a new high.
One morning at breakfast, for example, he told us assembled butterfliers that the night before his room (a single room, for Dick is presently an unattached male person) had been invaded by a cricket. It was a strikingly beautiful cricket, he reported somewhat dreamily, with lovely tan and brown stripes on its body. In studying the cricket, he said, “I confess I let my imagination run away with me.” Recalling the story of the frog that turned into a prince, he wondered if the cricket were really a princess who had come to him disguised in the night. He waited and he waited, but no metamorphosis occurred. Disappointed, but ever the diligent amateur scientist, he determined to find out next morning the cricket’s precise identity. He carefully placed the cricket into one of his trusty butterfly jars and first thing next morning found a guide to the insects of Washington. He discovered that his visitor was a Jerusalem Cricket – a FEMALE Jerusalem Cricket. Reading on in the description of the behavior of Jerusalem Crickets, he learned that after sex females of the species often devour the males. “Ah, well,” said Dick philosophically, “She didn’t turn into a princess, but she didn’t eat me either.”

G’num2001Vol2No1

Tom O’Connell

Founding WBA Member, Former Board Member, G’num Contributor, former Bellevue College President