Thinking Small

The legislators of Virginia, whose forebears once led the debates over American independence more than 200 years ago, today face another issue of great moment: whether to designate the state's official insect as the praying mantis, which the state's house of delegates has championed, or as the swallowtail butterfly, which the state senate has boosted. The question came to the fore last fall, when the fifth-and sixth-graders at the Arlington, Va., Long Branch Elementary School did some research on both the butterfly and the mantis and found the mantis, which has a reputation for ferocity because the female eats the male after mating, to be more socially useful. The youngsters then organized their own bus trip to Virginia's capital, Richmond, after the state senate adopted the butterfly. Appearing before the Virginia house of delegates, which was still in debate on the issue, Fifth-Grader John Meyers, aged 10, proclaimed: "The praying mantis is a noble insect, defending mankind from other predators." The mantis, the Arlington students explained to the Virginia legislators, eats bugs that destroy the corn, peanuts and tobacco of Virginia, while the butterfly in the caterpillar stage ravishes peachtree leaves, cabbages and tobacco plants. The house of delegates, undaunted by the fact that the species of mantis indigenous to Virginia is called the "Carolina Mantis," was so persuaded that it voted 50 to 37 for the mantis as the state insect. The matter now awaits final action by a house-senate conference committee, allowing the students, at least for the moment, to get a little buggy over their victory.

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