Names

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something." -- Richard Feynman

Substitute "butterfly" for "bird": Eastern Tiger Swallowtail; Great Spangled Fritillary; Silver Spotted Skipper; Clouded or Common Sulphur; Eastern Black Swallowtail. From their names, what do you know?

Nothing.

Nothing of their beauty, their lightness of flight and landing, the way their feet balance on flower, their hairy bodies and short snouts, wing shapes, thin profiles and broad stretches. Nothing of their probing proboscis arcing gently into flower faces, of their patterned colors, of their varied sizes. Nothing of their persistence, flitting from flower to flower, riding blossoms in breeze and spreading wings to cool.

Their names are beautiful but not nearly so beautiful as their beings. Here's proof.

Six hours later: I just read a wonderful article in The New York Times that concludes: "Just find an organism, any organism, small, large, gaudy, subtle — anywhere, and they are everywhere — and get a sense of it, its shape, color, size, feel, smell, sound. Give a nod to Professor Franclemont and meditate, luxuriate in its beetle-ness, its daffodility. Then find a name for it. Learn science’s name, one of countless folk names, or make up your own. To do so is to change everything, including yourself. Because once you start noticing organisms, once you have a name for particular beasts, birds and flowers, you can’t help seeing life and the order in it, just where it has always been, all around you." Read it!