At long last, as promised, the bug project. We began our year by reading excerpts from J. Henri Fabre's insect writings. It was fascinating, not just Fabre's observations of insects, but also his method, his style of writing, and his editorializing of mundane bug facts.
But Thomas Aquinas College is not merely a book-reading school. We also have hands-on learning. Which means that you get to go out and catch bugs. And kill them. And pose them. And classify them. And present them. And then burn them (last step optional).
Step 1: Collect Equipment
We begin our freshman bug project in the lab, equipping our teams with the latest in humane forms of catch-and-kill known to man, namely a mesh net and a kill-jar. "What is a kill jar?" you may ask. I will tell you. A kill-jar is (as the name implies) a jar. A layer of porous something covers the bottom. You then pour acetate onto said porous layer, and -- voila -- you have a kill-jar equipped for the extermination of those nasty bugs via toxic fumes. (Do not stand directly over the kill-jar, and do not sniff it. You WILL end up with an annoying headache which does not help your understanding of theology.)
Step 2: Catch the Bugs
You have many choices in this department. You can use the net, but as you only have access to the lab and specialized equipment at set times during the week, you may want to improvise if you see a glorious swallowtail when you have nothing. This might indeed include cups, tape, tupperware containers, envelopes, and, if you are so unlucky as to encounter a Jerusalem cricket
aka potato bug:
without any container, it might involve the use of your hands.
Step 3: Kill the Bug
Once you have captured the bug, you transfer him very, very, very carefully to the kill-jar and let him asphyxiate. If he's a large bug, it might take awhile. Like two or three days. Or, you can always freeze him. Just make sure you label the container; otherwise, someone might throw out your praying mantis.
Step 4: Pose the Bug
This is fairly simple step, as long as you don't mind touching bugs. You arrange the legs and wings, if any, in a pose that suits your fancy. Don't forget to pierce the thorax with a pin while you're at it. Of course, they're not always dead when you take them out of the kill-jar, just...stunned a little.
Sub-step 4b:
If you opted to kill your bug by freezing the poor little sucker to death, it might dry out a bit, making posing nigh on impossible. What you do then is rehydrate the bug. Either pop it in the shower room for a few hours, or boil some water on the hotplate and, uh, steam the bug (it's a praying mantis in case you can't tell):
Step 5: Classify
Another simple step: just arrange your bugs into groups according to some principle. My partner and I chose wing type and how it relates to the type of food they eat. Ours was a fairly boring topic. Some classified their bugs according to vehicles (the cricket is the ice cream truck because you hear it before you see it), others according to temperament. It turns out I'm a butterfly-moth hybrid.
Step 6: Present your Project
The tutor will be taking notes throughout your presentation, the other students in your section will snicker at some of your classifications, and your prize dragonfly's rear end will drop off mid-presentation. Good luck with that.
Step 7: Burn the ---- thing
This is for those of you who did not get 36's on the ACT and who flipped out when the grasshopper started attacking you.
FINIS
