John Rodgers on sat 23 jul 05
ticks and now - wusu flies
All this talk about such things ...... it was inevitable.......
1974 - East Ten. State Univ. - US Public Health Service. I was attending
a summer session pursuing Public Health courses. There was a certain
professor there - stiff of personality, and often with his backside
where his head should have been - you know the type. And there was a
certain student - a young man - bright, inquisitive, but full of himself
and and mischief. Played a bit more than studied. There was a conflict
between these two from day one.
As the end of session approached, and graduation neared, it became
evident that the young man was not going to make muster unless something
was done. The professor called the young man to task for his playing
through school and not getting his studies done. In his most stern voice
he informed the lad he was going to flunk the required entomology course
unless he got on the stick and tuned in an exemplary performance on the
final exam, which was an oral test involving identifying a series of
insects.
Well, exam day rolled around, and true to pattern, the lad had a very
fine night out before the test and did no preparation. He reported to
the classroom the next morning for the test, sat down and waited. The
professor came in, saw the young man, issued forth a grunting
"harrummph"!, then pulled from under his own desk a box full of insects,
mounted in a most professional manner, on pins , but missing the
traditional identification tags.
The Prof sat the box in from of the student and with a pointer, pointed
to an iridescent green colored insect and said "Please identify this
insect". The lad sat there, hmm-ed and aahhh-ed, then said he didn't
know what it was. The Professor moved to the next one. The performance
was repeated. The lad didn't know. This went on for several minutes.
Both men were very frustrated at this point.
Finally in exasperation, the professor said to him, "Boy, you ARE going
to fail my class, and you will NOT graduate with your classmates! Can
you not identify ANY of these common insects by scientific name???.....
or even common name???"
At that moment, a fly chose to land on the professors nose.
Before anyone could move, the lad shouted "I know what that bug is
....That's a wusu fly!!!"
Astounded, the Prof yelled, "What the devil is a wusu fly? I never heard
of such!!"
The student replied, " Gee, I thought you knew all the bugs. We have
those all over Eastern Tennessee. They land on the horses behinds, crawl
up under the tail to lay their eggs!"
The professor, infuriated, raged, "Boy, are you calling me a horses ass?"
"Oh, no sir, I would never do that", the lad responded, "but you can't
fool a wusu fly!"
*************
Mel, will Rid-a-Tic work on wusu flies if mixed as a spray?? :-D
Best Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL - where I can hear the ticks in the woods by the studio
-"Shall we attack.... or just wait here in the edge of the woods until
he comes out?"
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