| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
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Letters To The Editor Junior Academy Stars Eliot Dobris’ article “Passing the Academy Torch,” (California Wild, Spring 2003) brought back pleasant memories from my teen years in the 1940s. But it left out the names of the two persons who ran the Junior Academy when Peter Raven and I were members: the late Mrs. Lois Fink and Ms. Joanne Taylor. In fact, Joanne is in the picture with Peter looking at the wood duck. I was six years older than Peter. Graduating from high school in 1948, I had no money to go on to higher education, so I went to work in an office in downtown San Francisco. Lois and Joanne introduced me to the Sierra Club and I became active in the Bay Chapter, going on hikes, backpacking, skiing, and working on environmental issues. I remember Peter, at age 16, being the resident botanist at a Sierra Club Base Camp in 1952. The Junior Academy (and Golden Gate Park) was a refuge for me in those early years. It started my lifelong love of the natural world and how we must protect it. I’m currently treasurer of the Napa-Solano Audubon Society. Joan M. Ferguson The Mimic and the Wonderpus As a graduate student who studies octopus behavior and an enthusiastic “muck” diver in the mimic octopus’s back yard, I am glad that California Wild shared the story of this creature (“Wild Lives,” Summer 2003). However, I would like to clarify a few points in the article. The bottom picture on page 38, the octopus on page 39 and the top picture on page 40 are of an octopus known as the “wonderpus,” an anatomically distinct species. When divers originally found the mimic and wonderpus, there was confusion as to which was which, or if they were two separate species at all. Recent work has identified ways to tell them apart. The easiest way is by looking at the color pattern on the mantle, or body sac. The mimic has a dark background with cream mottling, while the wonderpus has a reddish brown background with distinct cream spots and bars. The spots on wonderpus have a clear edge. Also, the mimic often has a line of white (suckers) along the edge of the arms. Mimics have been observed feeding on crabs. This is a rapidly moving science and mimics are now known to have been previously caught and kept as museum specimens, but they have only recently been identified at the species level. Both the mimic and wonderpus are getting scientific names very soon. Eric Hochberg of the Santa Barbara Museum of the Natural History and Mark Norman of the Museum Victoria, Australia may have already submitted these manuscripts for publication. Last fall two mimics were collected under a research permit issued by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Although the California pygmy (Octopus micropyrsus) is very small (body size to 3 cm), it is not the smallest octopus in the world. Several tropical octopuses are smaller, and so far the record would probably go to Octopus wolfi, found throughout the Indo-Pacific (1.5 cm). Christine Huffard reply: The confusion over the identification of the photographs arose from the lack of definitive descriptions of these two similar species. The statement that the Californian pygmy octopus was the smallest in the world was verified by a number of erstwhile reliable sources. We now know better and appreciate the clarification. Fine Vintage Your article about aging was great! (Spring 2003, “Counterpoints”) I am one of those fortunate 91 year-olds still doing volunteer art teaching five days a week at RCA. I’ve volunteered for 25 years. My weight and blood pressure have always been normal. My studio is full of work and there are about 25 ceramic pieces on my garden wall. My husband, V.J. McGill, taught philosophy at San Francisco State and died in 1977 of an inoperable brain tumor. I took care of him for four months. I was a wreck, but decided that instead of feeling sorry for myself I’d go on to volunteering and painting. Helen Ludwig Environmental Damage Since when did California Wild start printing lies to make a point? I’m referring to “Homeland Insecurity” by Gordy Slack (Summer 2003). For example, he states that “The threat of terrorism was justification for ... the proposed opening of national forests and wildlife refuges to drilling and mining.” It is common knowledge that the administration had economic intentions for national forest and refuges before the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps the greatest damage to the environmental movement has been committed by my fellow environmentalists, who have engaged in hyperbole, half-truths and lies, all rationalized by the urgency of the situation. They have done no good for the credibility of conservation efforts. I thought that California Wild was a natural sciences magazine; perhaps you aspire to be Mother Jones instead. Luke Mulder replies: When the Arctic Wildlife Refuge came up for a Senate vote (May 2003), President Bush said that increasing our domestic oil supply by drilling in the refuge was essential for national security. Obviously other motivations predated 9/11, but Bush did cite threats to national security as justification for violating the wilderness. So where are the lies |