#To a Louse

[poem-today]

A poem by Robert Burns (for Burns Night)

To A Louse

On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet, At Church 1786

At Church Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie? Your impudence protects you sairly; I canna say but ye strunt rarely, Owre gauze and lace; Tho', faith! I fear ye dine but sparely On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner, Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner, How daur ye set your fit upon her- Sae fine a lady? Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner On some poor body.

Swith! in some beggar's haffet squattle; There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle, Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle, In shoals and nations; Whaur horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle Your thick plantations.

Now haud you there, ye're out o' sight, Below the fatt'rels, snug and tight; Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right, Till ye've got on it- The verra tapmost, tow'rin height O' Miss' bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, As plump an' grey as ony groset: O for some rank, mercurial rozet, Or fell, red smeddum, I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't, Wad dress your droddum.

I wad na been surpris'd to spy You on an auld wife's flainen toy; Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy, On's wyliecoat; But Miss' fine Lunardi! fye! How daur ye do't?

O Jeany, dinna toss your head, An' set your beauties a' abread! Ye little ken what cursed speed The blastie's makin: Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread, Are notice takin.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Glossary

ferlie= a wonder or marvel strunt=swagger wonner=a wonder (contemptuous) haffet=lock of hair at the temple sprattle=scramble fatt'rels=ribbon-ends groset=gooseberry rozet=resin smeddum=spirit dress=chastise droddum=backside aiblins=perhaps toy=woman's old-fashioned cap with ear-flaps dubbie=muddy wyliecoat=flannel vest.

[hellsitegenetics]

this valentine’s day i would like to profess my undying, ardent love for the callistephus chinensis (china aster)! the flower that contributed to me giving myself my name!!

not only are they a part of the (superior in my opinion) family of asteraceae, but also the genus’ (callistephus) etymology is derived from the greek words “kalli-” meaning “beautiful” and “stephos” meaning crown. they have beautiful chrysanthemum-esque blooms and come in all sorts of colours (my favourites being purple and white).

straying away from taxonomy a bit, asters in general are one of the birth flowers for september (my birth month!). they symbolise hope, faith and wisdom. and according to greek mythology, astraea (“star maiden”: goddess of purity, justice and innocence) cried because there weren't enough stars in the sky and when her tears hit the earth, they caused asters to bloom! continuing to follow the greek myth, she was the last goddess to live amongst the humans after the golden age, symbolising the decline of hope for humanity along with the decline of the ages. she left and became the constellation virgo i believe!

some more fun fun facts, asters have a most frequently observed number of n = 9 haploid chromosomes (2n = 18 for diploid). the numerology of the word “aster” also happens to be nine and guess what! september is the 9th month of the year! is it obvious i really like the number 9? almost as much as i love asters <3

String identified:

t at’ a t g, at t cat c (ca at)! t tat ctt t gg a!!

t a t a at t ( ) a ataca, t a t g’ (cat) tg t g “a-” ag “at” a “t” ag c. t a at cat- a c a t c ( at g a t).

tag aa ta a t, at ga a t t t ( t t!). t , at a . a accg t g tg, ataa (“ta a”: g t, tc a cc) c ca t 't g ta t a ta t t at, t ca at t ! ctg t t g t, a t at g t agt t a at t g ag, g t c at ag t t c t ag. t a ca t ctat g !act, at a a t t = 9 a c (2 = 18 ). t g t “at” a a t a g at! t t 9t t t a! t a t 9? at a c a at <3

Closest match: Caligus rogercresseyi isolate FCH chromosome 9 Common name: Sea louse

[little-creature-of-the-day]

little creature of the day: cuban spiky isopod

oh my God they’re so cute! and what a beautiful picture!

image source

[ritabuuk]

On Easter Sunday 1987, the last known wild California Condor was captured, to be kept in a zoo as part of a captive breeding program in an attempt to save its species from extinction. As part of the process of bringing the wild birds into the zoo, the California Condors were deloused... which most likely caused the extinction of the California Condor Louse, a louse specific to the California Condor that lived upon it in a symbiosis that we will now never fully understand.

In the meanwhile, the captive breeding program has successfully reintroduced the California Condor to the wild, and as of 2023, there are 344 wild condors, plus 217 in zoos. But the California Condor Louse is most likely gone forever. Its loss has increased our awareness of the possibility of conservation-induced extinction, and that, in our quest to save one species, we must be careful not to wind up sacrificing another.

Completed: November 1, 2024

[atdawn]

I see you as more of a head louse. Right. Useless. Irritating.

[onenicebugperday]

@buzzingblueberrybee submitted: Sorry about your foot! Here's a Fiery Searcher.

And a sea louse, I think!

Thank you! Both are very good. I think a sea louse/mole crab can be an honorary bug :)

[antiqueanimals]

The Entomologist's Text Book. Written and illustrated by John Obadiah Westwood. 1838.

Internet Archive

IDs via Wikimedia;

Goneplax rhomboides (syn:Goneplax angulata). Astacilla longicornis (syn:Arcturus longicornis). Limnoria lignorum (syn:Limnoria terebrans). Pycnogonum litorale (syn:Pycnogonum balaenarum). Julus terrestris (Common millipede) Dysdera erythrina Petrobius maritimus (Sea or Shore bristletail) Haematopinus suis (Hog louse)

[darksilvania]

PARASCYLLA sketches for "Mermay" on twitter

I asked my followers if they would lend me their fish pokemons for my PARASCYLLA to turn into tails and this are some of them so far, I will make some more as there are still a lot of interesting ones, so expect a part 2

The fishies belong to: @StarlyCactus, @the_aussie_artist(IG), @Artsyboi_Sketch, @BanannerToast, @Mett_Moir, @Riceputtin2, @LukexxrayDraws, @zimmlyy and @NasoSamuele

[g0nefischin]

MERSKELES PART 3!

Definitely not mermay anymore but here's the last 3 sirens I wanted to do

and some explanation on why I choose what I did under the cut

(little warning for parasites on fresh's section)

So from left to right

Dream is a golden colored koi carp fish, I picked it because they are very pretty and they represent a lot of positive things like luck and fortune, some people even wish on them to make their dreams come true :> I also thought of the legend where a golden koi fish climbs a large waterfall to turn into a dragon, so they have some mythical legends as well. In terms of the actual fish, Koi are very sociable and sturdy, they also live for quite awhile.

Nightmare is a coelacanth, he should probably be an octopus considering he has tentacles, but I really wanted to make him a coelacanth because I think they are neat. Coelacanth's are very old with the latest fossils being over 400 million years old, they were thought to be extinct until one was found in 1938, grandpa nightmare. They are also nocturnal, sleeping in caves during the day, they live deep in the ocean as well. 

Fresh is actually a two in one, he is a rainbow parrotfish with a tongue-eating louse in his mouth. Out of alI the bright fish I did a parrotfish because I really like their gradients, and I think the magenta fins fit his jacket. He's a parasite inside of a Sans body, so I picked a fish parasite to go along with the fish half of his body. I chose the tongue-eating louse, a type of parasite that replaces a fish's tongue. It first severs the blood vessels to the tongue and once it falls off takes its place. feeding on nutrients and acting as a new tongue for the rest of the fish's life, very cool and terrifying.

[violettpeach]

🪷

[herpsandbirds]

aaand I got some isopods too- first two images are the same isopod and the rest are all unique. Ontario, Canada

Isopods in ONT, Canada:

These little fellas look like brickwork woodlouse (Porcellio spinicornis), family Porcellionidae. As with most of the terrestrial isopods in North America, they were introduced here from Europe. 

[snototter]

A Clark's anemonefish (Amphiprion clarkii) infested by a tongue-eating louse (Cymothoa exigua) in Indonesia

by Christian Gloor

[hellsitegenetics]

From Portal 2:

"Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"

String identified: Agt, ' tg. g , 't a a - a ta t ac! Gt a! 't at a , at a t t t? a t ' aag. a t a t tgt t c g Ca . a? ' t a ' ga ! t t . ' gg t t gt g t t a ct tat !

Closest match: Lepeophtheirus nordmannii genome assembly, chromosome: 3

(no image could be found of this organism, so here is an image of L. salmonis, which is closely related.)

[lowpolyanimals]

Louse from Psychonauts 2

[insomni-frog]

UUHHHHHHH, Sea Louse Cookie. She takes over the bodies of fish to fool sailors into believing she's a hapless mermaid, where then she'll try to drown and devour them.

Good thing she can only take over fish, right...

...

Right?

Shes based around a tongue-eating louse, sirens, and partially the selkie with how she puts on a dead fish to turn into a "mermaid".

Fun facts: she's 1'9—although her size can vary depending on what kind of fish she was in last. Her appearance can take on certain characteristics of her host, like their colour or markings.

Not fun fact: fish aren't the only things she can turn into a host.

[clockwaysarts]

The brain... pill bugs got me? Pillsona (??) for my dear @gingerel (yellow mushroom) and myself (stary). I've included some transparent files if you want to make your own pillsona! (Modification okay! Personal use only. Credit/link to me!) Ideas for the stars and mushroom to CholyKnight as a friend bought this plushie pattern.