Subject: Butterflies of Venezuela

From: "James F. Hanlon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 05:33:24 -0400

I am curious if anyone else out there ordered "The Butterflies of
Venezuela",  By Andrew Neild, from Meridian Publications, a company in
England?  I did, and I am a little concerned whether or not they are a
legitimate company. I would appreciate any input on this matter.

Obrigado (Thank You in Portuguese),

Jim Hanlon

"I just know the animals of the jungle are watching over me on this one"

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From: "ORELLANA BORGES . ANDRES MIGUEL" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:27:25 -0400

JIm,

"The Butterflies of Venezuela" is now on its final acomplishments.
Andrew Neild's last communiucation (Fri Jul 26) states:

>Thanks for your Anaeini comments. I shall incorporate them. I intend to
>have my manuscript finished (except for insignificant changes) by the end
>of next week, so any major additions will have to reach me before then..

>We are finally progressing with the colour plates. Work is going ahead
>better now, and improving all the time. I think that I can now safely say
>that publication will be in late September or early October. The problem is
>that I have no control over this process - the designer has the
>responsibility to check time constraints, and at present he still is unable
>to give a firm indication of how long this process will take.

I claim for patience, I too would like to receive my copy soon (when finished).

Andres M. Orellana

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From: "James F. Hanlon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 06:50:41 -0400

I am sorry if I seemed a little on edge about the release date of the
Butterflies of Venezuela and the reliability of its publisher. The reality
is, I lost my father (78, had a great life!) last week and I was just
venting out some anger. It appears that Meridian Publications and the
author, Andrew Neild  are doing a fine job in assembling the book and its
accompanying color plates. I also agree  that its more important to take
the additional time and care that Andrew is doing to get a product that you
feel good about, rather than rush the publication without applying the care
and attention which this subject requires. Go getum Andrew.

Jungle Thoughts:

I really enjoy learning about the behavioral habits of neotropical
butterflies, an area which of course could always use a little more
attention by us field guys, and gals. As much as I am in support of
collecting, preserving and adequately labelling and documenting specimens,
I am equally supportive of observing their habits in a natural state which
of course can not be achieved without being very quiet, extremely patient
and very attentive. Which is not always so easy to do when in the tropics.
Whenever I am in the jungle, the place I love to be the most, it is often
very difficult to stand still for too long of time before biting insects
track you down and start bugging and biting you. Only God knows why I love
it so much, because some referr to the jungle as "The Green Hell", and
probably for good reasons like extreme heat and humidity; biting insects
that wont let you stand still for more then 5 seconds, snakes that can bite
you, and if their venom doesn't kill you, the anti-snake venom will get its
chance if  your body is allergic to such medicines (snakes usually just
scurry away 10-15 feet before you arrive).

But I and many others on this list derive great energy from the forest by
observing and breathing its wonders. The prowess of the Jaguar, the
slithering of the Anaconda, the howling of the Howler monkey, the roosting
of the Heliconiae, the stealth like circling of the Agrias, the beauty of
the Trogon and Quetzal, the jaws of the Caiman (alligator), the often noisy
crackling of a flock of parrots. I once encounterred over a thousand
parrots while canoing alone on a tributary of the Amazon. Its amazing to
see the birds in such a colonized fashion.

I know this posting wasn't lepidoptera specific, but I just felt like
writing down some rainforest thoughts. Just telling these thoughts is
making me even more excited about my next encounter into the the wonderfull
and mystifying Green Tangle", which will happen in the not too distant
future.

Have fun and always label your specimens, and if you are new to collecting
or if you at all question your collecting ethics, then please read The
Lepidopterists' Society Statement of the Committee on Collecting Policy".
You will find that you can actually take pride in abiding by these
voluntary rules and ethics and and in return raise the level of the way you
feel about yourself and your scientific endeavors with lepidoptera. The
Collecting Policy can be found in the Appendix section of Peterson's Field
Guide to Western Butterflies by J.W. Tilden.

Jim Hanlon
Los Angeles, CA