To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pawpaws and butterflies
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 12:50:47 -0500
Raby, Brian {D204~Indianapolis} wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I don't know any specific location, but I was talking to my son's
> teacher last fall and she said that for some of their science
> projects, like watching a caterpillar turn into a cocoon, then a
> butterfly, that there are some educational website that you can order
> from. Perhaps that would be a place to start.
True...you can order butterflies (typically painted lady butterflies are
used for classrooms). Unfortunately, they're being bred out west and
released all over the place. Many butterfly geneticists have screamed
about the release practise for years. Even folks who rear locals for
their experiments typically do not release lab-reared specimens to the
wild. There are far more mutations that survive in lab-reared
stock...that I can attest to from experience. When I've used the
mail-order kits in class, I just let them survive in cages and they
eventually die during the semester.