When I became interested in insects

They began to like me at the age of three, but I became interested, well, in the sense of straining my grandfather with questions and reading books on the topic at the age of 6. Even then I was convinced that these are the best animals in the world.

I've been interested since I can remember. Of course, this interest developed into something tangible and concrete a little later. In elementary school, I read the book "My Butterfly Hunt" by Eugene Le Moult (but beetles came out on top for me!). The annual (from 1967 to 1971) trips with my mother to Abkhazia (Gudauta) were also influenced. I still remember Rhesus serricollis flying into the light!

My first memories were when autumn phloxes were taller than me (I think up to 3 years old).
On phlox peacock's eye,.... naturally, I did not catch it....
Years from 5-in the summer a bunch of cans with live beetles, butterflies, caterpillars..... By the way, Le Cartoon is also one of my first books together with Fabre. I started collecting the collection at the age of 5, and so did Zhukov. Later he preferred butterflies. Class c 4-5th engaged in breeding butterflies from caterpillars.

Starting from 2-3 years old.
With a" vile agakany " I caught beetles and watched them crawl on my hands. A little later, I began to catch horseflies and feed them to large ground beetles (much later I learned that this is Pt. niger)

Probably in 4 years with my grandfather took a net and went to the nearest pond, I still remember the happiness when I managed to catch a large swimmer... Everything caught was dragged home in cans... A little later, he began to drag various creatures home on his own. I started collecting a collection at the age of seven, collecting both beetles and butterflies, but somehow gradually preference began to be given to beetles. True, before entering the university, the passion for insects faded, and he continued to collect the collection,but without the same fanaticism. There was no specialization in entomology at the university, so after a while I finally gave up insects and retrained as an ornithologist. But after a few years without beetles, it somehow became sad and everything started again...

Probably as long as I can remember.
As a child, I organized yard trips to the vegetable base for the " admiral "
In the first grade I read the book" Insects "of the Mir publication, although I didn't understand much about it ,but the pictures were cool.

When I was 6-7 years old, I started collecting everything, and then when I got older, I started defining it. And in the school where I studied, they did not understand what entomology is .

Yes, so I also became interested in the years from 5-6. It all started with the fact that I was stung in the hand by the Ammophila wasp. It hurt terribly-my hand was swollen, my finger turned blue, how many more I caught them I never encountered such a reaction to a bite. Now I collect hundreds of them . And I learned that there is such a science of entomology in class 6-7. When I got to the Yunnatov station, I had a Minor Academy of Sciences, a biology department, and a master's degree.

From the first milliseconds of my life, I started noticing beautiful things.. The first entomological memories (unfortunately, the memory does not extend further) relate to kindergarten, even then the teacher brought me soldiers and other animals, one such soldier once bit me.. it was not pleasant, I yelled and cried
Well, it was up to 5 years.. I don't remember exactly when
Another memory of those years refers to when I collected leaf beetles in the yard. Well, some glimpses of the moments when I found insects and watched over them. Later, I tried to start collecting a couple of times, but a bunch of dead beetles in a jar in the heat made it stink.. I once put a bunch of beetles without having time to sort them out, and then I went somewhere, came back, and instead of beetles there was no longer clear what.. So my hobby was postponed..
But somewhere in the 5th grade I decided to take it seriously and from that moment my collecting began

I remember in kindergarten stuffed different beetles and beetles in medicine bottles and then fried the whole thing in the sun..... ppc what a sadist I was

It all started when I was about three, too. all sorts of beetles in the yard, caterpillars in the garden. Then, at the age of six, I met a teacher-an employee of the Tyumen Museum of Local Lore, P. S. Sitnikov , one of the few Tyumen entomologists. And off we went - watch the museum collections without breathing, the first net, etc. Eh, the cool time was

Another vivid childhood memory...In our city, there has long been an extensive system of open "storm drains" - ditches that ran along the houses along almost all the streets. These ditches were regularly cleaned by residents, the water in them was clear, what kind of animals and aquatic vegetation there was not! For me, at the age of 5-7, one of my favorite activities was to lie on my stomach on the bridge and admire the life flowing in the water of the ditch. The larvae of diptera of the genus Chaoborus (Corethra) made the greatest impression on me then (along with crested newts, we called them giants). At that time, no one could explain to me what kind of elegant, crystal-clear alien creatures they were! A little later, I read about them in popular literature.

It seems that not only the general interest in insects, but also further "specialization" is born in childhood. As long as I can remember, I have been catching bumblebees, bees, and wasps since my early childhood. I was repeatedly "bitten" (stung), but my interest did not disappear.
But I was completely indifferent to butterflies (as I am now).

Since early childhood, the benefit in Adygea was all the conditions for fishing
Then he took a break for several years, and finally tightened in 1993. In 1994, I met the largest butterfly collector in Virginia, Colonel S. Nicolay, and he provided me with boxes and all sorts of other equipment to start with. This was, of course, a very powerful incentive.

Off: I have a newspaper article about Nicolay somewhere - I can shoot it if anyone is interested.

Another vivid childhood memory...In our city, there has long been an extensive system of open "storm drains" - ditches that ran along the houses along almost all the streets. These ditches were regularly cleaned by residents, the water in them was clear, what kind of animals and aquatic vegetation there was not! For me, at the age of 5-7, one of my favorite activities was to lie on my stomach on the bridge and admire the life flowing in the water of the ditch. The larvae of diptera of the genus Chaoborus (Corethra) made the greatest impression on me then (along with crested newts, we called them giants). At that time, no one could explain to me what kind of elegant, crystal-clear alien creatures they were! A little later, I read about them in popular literature.

Yes, the" universe " of aquatic creatures (in the river, ponds and puddles) also worried me a lot as a child.

Childhood, deep childhood... There were always two passions - insects and reptiles One of the vivid memories from kindergarten, when I caught a rhinoceros beetle. I was in a wild delight and then rolled downhill, the interest never faded Unfortunately, there was not a single person even remotely related to biology, so I did everything myself. Many thanks to my parents, who not only did not interfere with these hobbies (and the house was just filled with mantises, scorpions, beetles and all sorts of frogs, lizards and other reptiles), but also supported me by buying zoological literature (yes, the seven-volume Animal Life was a reference book for a long time). The rich nature of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus contributed a lot to this. I feel that my love for nature (and in particular, for entomology ) it can only disappear with physical death and not otherwise. Pathetic, but true

I grew up reading Fabre's great books. In general, in Soviet times (80's), it was difficult to get a good book on entomology. That is, there were publications, but they were all old and rarely reprinted. In our city library there were 1-2 books about insects, and even then "ABC in pictures", there was no good complete book. But for my birthday, my parents got me a Fabre, the book was with friends, I think it was published in the 50s. I read it excitedly! Well, in 1993 I got to Moscow, and here I was bought a 3-volume Brema from Terra and another determinant Plavilshchikov. What books they were! Especially the last one. It was the first time I saw the definition table, and I realized that it turns out that insects can be identified not only by pictures. And off we went. First, I began to identify everything that came across, then butterflies, then beetles. But I stopped at the butterflies. Already at uni, I retrained for sfecid, as a more promising group for a diploma. I remember being joked about for a long time that I spread the wings of wasps like butterflies. Then I gave up this chip .

Eh, I will not be original, from the age of 3 I began to dig up the entire site in kindergarten in search of any invertebrates, beetles gradually began to appear, I switched to them, I also tried to bring out caterpillars, various encyclopedias about insects were children's books, a little later Fabr and a Cartoon... I started collecting the children's collection from 2-3 classes, but I started seriously from 9 after one of our Irkutsk entomologists, D. Kuznetsov, presented me with 100 different beetles, mainly carabuses and butterflies, threw real entomological pins, in the same year a trip to Maikop, acquaintance with V. G. Shilenkov, and took off...

another determinant of Plavilshchikov.

Yes, I also remember finding this book in the library of the Palace of Pioneers, published in the 50s. There was joy - full pants! Identified most of its beetles (but not all). Before that, all I had was Mamaev's atlas and Stanek's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Insects.

And in the 7th grade, the head of the circle of young scientists in the above-mentioned Palace of Pioneers brought me together with G. A. Anufriev, brought to him some of her beetles, which were too tough for the determinant of Plavilshchikov G. A. I got the second volume of "green" - here I generally fell into a precipitate For the last money I scanned the tables for some families, part of I copied it out by hand, translated the drawings from the introductory part into tracing paper, and circled them with ink...

I remember up to 4-5 years I didn't like them at all (strange, why?). Then, while sitting at the dacha near the pool, I saw a bumblebee flying. Then I thought about it, like it's so heavy and flies! Then the dragonfly flew swiftly. And I concluded: what an amazing charm!
P.S. Now terminally ill with insectomania)).

I copied out some of them by hand, translated the drawings from the introductory part into tracing paper, and circled them with ink...

How familiar that sounds to me! Already in his student summers, neskripya heart laid out half a penny on the xer of the Fauna of the USSR by hysterids. And how much by hand pererepisalal-Kozheedy Zhantieva, leaf eaters wed. Asia lopatin...
And then I managed to buy duplicates of books from the library of the Academy of Sciences from under the floor:
Coccinellids of Savoy, Plates of Nikolaev, Dendrophages of Kostin, Leaf Beetles of Lopatin, two-volume Flora of Kazakhstan...

And after reading "The Adventures of Karik and Vali" And thanks to my father, he was a great lover of nature.

By the way, I was greatly influenced by the colorful publication "Insects of the Red Book of the USSR". The stories are wonderful... I remember how at night I dreamed that I would take and find the nutcracker Parrace, which no one had caught for 40 years...

I copied out some of them by hand, translated the drawings from the introductory part into tracing paper, and circled them with ink...

How familiar that sounds to me! Already in his student summers, neskripya heart laid out half a penny on the xer of the Fauna of the USSR by hysterids. And how much by hand pererepisalal-Kozheedy Zhantieva, leaf eaters wed. Asia lopatin...
And then I managed to buy duplicates of books from the library of the Academy of Sciences from under the floor:
Coccinellids of Savoy, Plates of Nikolaev, Dendrophages of Kostin, Leaf Beetles of Lopatin, two-volume Flora of Kazakhstan...

How familiar everything is! When I was a student, I didn't even have photocopies.
I rewrote the entire "green" determinant for bees. There are a lot of wasps. Several thick notebooks. I redrawn the drawings...
How I envy the current young guys.....

And here I was at school still somehow spread butterflies on matchboxes, but this became a real hobby after passing a field practice in invertebrate zoology in the 1st year of the biofactory faculty. Here!

N. N. Plavilshchikov's book For Young Nature Lovers was crucial for me. They gave it to me in elementary school - although, perhaps, it was designed for an older student. The book was lost somewhere - I still regret it.

I remember how at night I dreamed that I would take and find the nutcracker Parrace, which no one had caught for 40 years...

The same garbage I remember, almost all Hosta izlazil in his search...

Fabre, Khalifman, Smelters, Animal life (including Arthropods) and the fragile child's soul rushed to entomological paradise...

This post was edited by Proctos - 04/29/2008 00: 14

My first book on entomology was Plavilshchikov's Entertaining Entomology, which my friends wanted to throw away, but I didn't give it to them and took it for myself.

Fabre, Khalifman, Smelters, Animal life (including Arthropods) and the fragile child's soul rushed to entomological paradise...

Yes, I remember Khalifman, but he did not have a strong influence . I have already listed my first entomological books, I only forgot to mention Stanek's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Insects and Scheffel's (1991 reprint), I think Animals and Plants, a Guide for Naturalists. But the one who really instilled in me a love of science is Jules Verne! I remember reading all his collected works, and certainly not just 10,000 Leagues and the Captain of Fifteen. Books like "Journey to the Center of the Earth" or "Hot Air Balloon Ride" impressed me greatly, and convinced me of the already familiar idea that a scientist is definitely a good role model.

Darrell rulit

Same bullshit...I have among other books on biology and entomology in particular (standard set-Smelters, animal life...) a special, I would say even mystical place in children's memories is occupied by Le-Mult and the novel of the science fiction writer Belyaev "The Dead Head" - somehow they are intertwined in my head in one sense of mystery, adventure, something from the field of fantastic dreams (probably seasoned with other stories by Belyaev, Wells, Verne). I haven't picked up these books since, so as not to destroy this piece of my childhood...
And yet, when I was in the 2nd-3rd grade, my parents bought me a toy microscope ("Analyt" Lomo for 25 rubles), I must say that it was not such a toy either - it was quite possible to consider a lot (magnification 50-900), I spent the whole summer doing what I was doing. that in the village from the pond caught all sorts of animals, examined and sketched...I even made some preparations on the glass, and I remember gluing cover glasses with glue" moment "

And yet, when I was in the 2nd-3rd grade, my parents bought me a toy microscope ("Analyt" Lomo for 25 rubles), I must say that it was not such a toy either - it was quite possible to consider a lot (magnification 50-900), I spent the whole summer doing what I was doing. that in the village from the pond caught all sorts of animals, examined and sketched...I even made some preparations on the glass, and I remember sticking cover glasses with glue "moment"

I still have it somewhere. I really took it apart as a child to clean the lenses and put it together a little differently...

I still have it somewhere. I really took it apart as a child to clean the lenses and put it together a little differently...

Yes, I also have it, I don't even know - it's a pity to throw it away like ...

Yes, I also have it, I don't even know - it's a pity to throw it away, like...

And I have
Yes, why throw it away - it will come in handy again. I used it now as a projector - I showed my son every little thing on the wall, he was terribly happy

Bolivar:
Do you have a son???? Figase, you didn't tell me! You're cool!

Yeah, we're growing

I have a passion for entomology began at the age of 4, when my dad brought home May beetles, so I rushed......
She spent her school summer holidays in the village with her grandmother, watching insects,raising and breeding butterflies,especially the daytime Peacock's eye, feeding spiders with flies, and so on. She caught beetles and butterflies and killed them mercilessly... When I remember the horror.. I also found a dead cat and turned it over,watched the disgusting maggots with interest...horror! right now I might not have dared to do this..
At first, there was an interest in collecting only beetles, and then butterflies and others)
Fabre, of course, made an impression from the literature,and his incredible observations and stories, especially about Saturnia, to which many males flew.
And so there is little literature available: Stanek's encyclopedia, which was given to me by my future spouse, still has benefits from it ,helps as much as it can))
Then there are glossy encyclopedias of Landman butterflies and Butterflies of the World, well, even children's books about insects)
My son is 2, 5 years old, he started a hobby from birth)), and no wonder insects are everywhere) Rubber beetles and butterflies, the jar in which he collects them are his favorite toys. The first word he said was not Mom,but Zhuko)). Now we are getting out together to catch insects, although it scares away butterflies))
Well, perhaps enough, and then so infinitely you can continue)