Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, October 5. 2011

Bug of the Week: The Sow Bug

Sow Bugs, Woodlice - they have lots of names, and there are over 3000 species of these little guys. I think I sacrifice a few of them to the gods every time I toss a log on the fire.


They are arthropods, in the subgroup of the usually-aquatic Crustaceans. They look like tiny Trilobites.


I am always happy to see these little bugs under logs and rocks. Arthropods own the world, even though we don't give them a vote.

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays at 13:01 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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I, for one, welcome our new pill bug overlords. Great fun for ages 1-5. Harmless if swallowed and no sour aftertaste.

And then there's the philosophical angle. Could it not be argued that curling up into a protective ball and letting the storm of war pass over you is the safest route of all to take? Is not the continuation of the species the prime directive?

And then there are the religious overtones. I see 'turn the other cheek' when it curls into a ball. Yet how does that jibe with the fact that it's turning itself into a perfect symbol of war, the cannonball? Might they be the 'cannonballs of insect love'?

The next time you do a post on bugs, BD, do a little more research, okay? This one seems to have left a lot of unanswered questions.
#1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-10-05 15:01 (Reply)
Sexy naked bugs, dude. What ya complainin' about now?
#2 Bird Dog on 2011-10-05 15:16 (Reply)
Arthropods!
Like crab and Lobster!
Roast them in the fireplace and serve for dinner?
N
#3 nathan on 2011-10-05 15:58 (Reply)
They've perfected the fetal position.
What more does one need?
#4 PacRim Jim (Link) on 2011-10-05 16:27 (Reply)
As a former greenhouse orchid grower for 20 years, I thoroughly dislike pill bugs. See, they eat the white spongy covering on orchid roots which stores water for the plant, and thus starve it of both water and fertilizer. I don't care if they've "perfected the fetal position." I'll kill them any time I see them. And if you've ever bloomed a prize-winning cattleya, [which blooms only once a year] and gotten inferior quality in the blooms, you'd be mad too.

And broken hearted. At least for awhile.

Marianne
#5 Marianne Matthews on 2011-10-05 16:53 (Reply)
Growing up on the farm in Alabama, we called them 'BB Bugs'. I even tried to shoot a few through my Red Rider. Not recommended.
#6 Archer2010 on 2011-10-05 17:31 (Reply)
We called them "me-see bugs." Why? Because my sister and I put them in our mouths, and my mother said "let me see," and scraped them out with her finger.
#7 evjc on 2011-10-05 21:59 (Reply)
They say the trilobites are extinct. I bet if they were still around, they'd still xtinc.
#8 buddy larsen on 2011-10-05 23:14 (Reply)
When I was a little kid in St. Louis we called 'em roly-poly bugs because of the way they curled up when threatened.
#9 feeblemind on 2011-10-07 21:21 (Reply)
"Doodlebugs" in southwest Louisiana & east Texas
#9.1 buddy larsen on 2011-10-08 00:13 (Reply)

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