our young naturalist
our son, joseph, has been coming to southern france since he was 6 (he is 15 now). for most of his boyhood, he was an enthusiastic and avid naturalist. we listened to interviews of e.o. wilson in the car, read darwin’s adventures on the beagle, and generally encouraged his obsessive passion. this collection of bugs and beetles from southern france are mostly ‘finds’ of joe’s. the praying mantis became a pet, and lived out a contented life in a large terrarium. it eventually laid eggs in that terrarium the last time we were there. we gifted the mantis and her eggs to our neighbor jean-luc when we left. he informed us that mantids lay thousands of eggs at a time, and that he would make sure to take good care of them, by allowing them to hatch inside the car we store in the garage of our rented home. that way they would be there to greet us when we returned.
bugs and beetles of occitanie:
Ha! Made me laugh. Unbeknownst to me, I brought a mantis egg case inside one fall in some hydrangea flowers I wanted to dry. They were in the kitchen. One dark, cold snowy morning in February I entered a kitchen full of 1/4″ long babies. They were everywhere!! Quite the drama.
Wonderful stories from both you & Ginny! Any idea what the other green beauties are?
I think the third one down is a katydid.