五彩缤纷的昆虫世界

寂静的夏夜，郊外小溪的水石间有萤火虫忽上忽下明灭；

初醒的早晨，农家屋山头的丝瓜蔓叶上爬着蝈蝈和蚂蚱；

不见人迹的中午，野水埠头的高柳上，蝉鸣传得老远、老远……

今年大热天，浙江农林大学植物保护专业二年级的同学接到“捕捉昆虫、制作标本”的暑假作业，我以为这是极有趣的事，应当是正确的学习义务和责任，培育的是一种情怀、一种精神。

法国人让·亨利·卡西米尔·法布尔《昆虫学回忆录》的中文节译本《昆虫记》，令人异常向往大自然中的生物世界，至今难忘——那时的暑期，和伙伴常常找一个背阴的去处，久久地听断砖下油蛉儿（绝非蛐蛐儿）的吟声。

法布尔是失意的中学教员，但他把自己的不甘心，转化为对昆虫的细致入微的观察，一天天的记录，留下了一部科学的、文学的巨著。《昆虫记》问世后，19世纪文学界的巨擘无不称誉，科学界的达尔文在其进化论中引用其中材料；20世纪中国文坛的周氏兄弟也极力推荐。我想，学植保的同学必然是知道它的，也猜想，他们读了之后一定会有深深的感触的。

有兴趣，就有热爱，才能产生科学钻研的动力。这些同学在田野实践时兴奋不已：

“以前我们看到奇怪的昆虫，因为害怕而吓得哇哇直叫；现在看到罕见的昆虫，开心兴奋得哈哈笑。”

“以前看到毛毛虫，我都会心里发毛，现在将竹节虫啊、独角仙啊制成标本摆放在一起，都成了艺术品么，怎么看怎么漂亮。”

“你们寝室里有蟑螂没啊，其他虫子也行，我的数量还不够呢，没想到平时最讨厌的小虫子，现在成了宝贝，都被同学们抓光了。”

……

同学们是根据基础昆虫学的要求去完成这份实践性作业的。任课老师徐志宏、实践指导老師潘程远表示，野外抓虫子、制作标本其实是植物保护专业教学环节之一，学校希望通过学生真正走出课堂，开辟新的学习环境，在动手过程中培养兴趣、了解知识、热爱专业，这在每一届学生中都收到了良好的效果。潘程远说：“前几年，我们指导学生捕捉并制作昆虫标本，主要是在数量上要求比较高，当时每个组要抓2000只左右；现在我们强调的是昆虫的质量和丰富性，比如要确保昆虫标本的完整，不能缺翅膀断腿，而且要确保130个科的昆虫都要有，并且要制作成完整的标本，这对于学生的专业性要求更高了。”

在接到这份让人兴奋的作业的那一刻，同学们当然也觉得压力特别大。陈胜伟说，大家学的是植物保护专业，认识很多昆虫，但现在要大家去抓昆虫，很多人还是觉得心里很发虚，因为有不少昆虫并不常见，其习性也并不完全了解。

在半个月的实践课程中，两个班60名学生以5个人为一组，每组分别到野外捕捉1200只以上的昆虫，并按照规定制作成昆虫标本。潘程远要求，所有学生捕捉到的昆虫，必须涉及昆虫纲的16个目的130个科。

我以为，捉昆虫、制标本，完全是一份严肃的专业作业，也是一次开心的劳作活动，更是一种新颖的社会实践——在大自然中作科学探索，目标和意义非常明确。而过去，青年学生的社会实践大都也就是搞一些宣传或者公益之类的活动罢了，这也许和他们漂浮不定甚或于无的人生观有关联：从什么专业毕业不要紧，踏入社会再重新寻找自己所追求的生活价值。

有人把当下的大学生形容为一群骄傲的小公鸡和一群骄傲的小母鸡，昂首挺胸，走来走去，很自以为是，其实只是庭院之内的稚嫩。好了，现在从一放暑假开始，这帮子骄子便分别前往学校周边的草丛、农民的菜地，以及天目山自然保护区等山区抓捕各种昆虫，在清晨、大中午、傍晚。

过去说劳动和工作要“一不怕苦、二不怕死”，那说的只是过程中的态度。为了保护好自己，必要的防护还应当采取。为防被有毒昆虫伤害，同学们外出捕捉干活时，都穿上长裤和长袖衬衫，但要想抓到罕见的昆虫，不得不深入草丛。

我采访了几名同学。廖志洪同学伸出被虫子叮咬得满是肿块的手臂说：“抓昆虫而被咬，是常见的事情。不少昆虫具有一定的攻击性，有的能分泌毒液，像有的同学在抓野蜂时，就被蛰了很多个包。所以对于这样的昆虫，我们一般先用网兜，然后用广口瓶里的乙酸乙脂将之迷晕，再进行处理。即使这样，我们很多同学还是被昆虫咬得遍体鳞伤。”

为了尽快完成作业，不少女生早上起床的第一件事情，就是去花园寻找有没有什么昆虫。以往一些令人讨厌的虫子，一旦抓获，几乎都让她们觉得特别可爱亲切。

一开始，同学们抓的大都是常见的知了、蜻蜓等，数量多了之后，大家相互比起谁抓的虫子罕见、谁抓的虫子漂亮：体大而愚笨的独角仙、20多厘米长的竹节虫、硕大的凤蝶……各种奇异、美丽的昆虫渐渐丰富起来。

“其实我们抓到的远不止这些，由于很多种类的昆虫都一样，重复的不能太多，我们就送给其他同学或者放归大自然。”张欣欣同学说，“我们做这次作业，花了大概半个月时间，虽然辛苦，但也很有成就感，尤其让其他专业的同学好奇。”

“一只漂亮的蝴蝶或者一只帅气的独角仙，都成为同学间相互炫耀的宝贝。”傅诗桐同学表示，以前自己最怕虫子，如今看到虫子就觉得兴奋；现在即使走在校园的路上也特别仔细，希望能在路边抓到一只罕见的昆虫，或者发现几只还没抓到过的甲壳虫。

“很多昆虫是有意思的。”傅诗桐说，昆虫也是生态系统的重要组成部分，通过专业实习和捕捉昆虫，大家不仅更加了解每种昆虫的习性，而且增强了对专业的了解，对于今后从事本专业的学习增添了信心。endprint

學校15号楼标本室里的标本除了收集的之外，大多数是各届同学捕捉积累的，凤蝶、蜻蜓、独角仙、金龟子、竹节虫、蜡蝉、蟑螂、蚊子……琳琅满目，五彩缤纷。同学们根据不同昆虫所属的目、科、属、种，按照标本制作的要求，将它们分类制作、摆放，显得特别有艺术感。

几十年前，中国邮政发行过特种邮票“蝴蝶”，一套20枚，花花绿绿的，让人怀想久远。今天，我忽然很期待同学们的标本能印刷成册，也许有意义。

（除署名外，本文照片由作者提供）

Gathering Insects in Summer

By Sheng Wei

At the end of the first semester this year， the sophomore students majoring in crop protection at Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University were given an assignment to collect insects and make specimens in the upcoming summer vacation. All the students of this major with the university do this at the end of their second year study. It is fun for most of these youths. It is not merely about insects. It is about knowledge and spirit of science.

All the sophomores of crop protection of this year knew the importance of collecting insects. They had read Jean-Henri Fabres . In China， it was first recommended to Chinese readers by Zhou Zhuren in 1923 and has stayed popular in China. The first translation was published in 1932 and the latest translation came out in 2015.

The students had great curiosity about the insects. “We got scared by strange-looking insects. But now we feel happy and thrilled at the sight of rare insects，” one student commented. “In the past， a caterpillar made me nervous. Now I make specimens and think they are beautiful artworks，” commented another student. “Do you have cockroaches or other insects in your collection？ My collection is not big enough，” one student asked around.

Xu Zhihong and Pan Chengyuan， two teachers with the university， were in charge of the field study. “It is a must for students who major in crop protection. They need to go outdoors and develop their interest and acquire knowledge and gain hands-on experience，” said the two teachers. “In the past few years， student groups were instructed to catch about 2，000 insects and make specimens. This summer we emphasize quality and variety. All the specimens must be complete. Broken legs or broken wings will be disqualified. All the 130 insect families in 16 orders shall be covered，” explained Pan Chengyuan.

The 60 sophomores were divided into 12 groups. In 15 days， each five-person group was to collect insects and make 1，200 specimens. The students collected insects around the campus and farmlands. They also went to Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve and other mountains. The best time to catch insects was in the early morning， the noon and the sunset moments.endprint

For the students， the first thing to do was to learn how to protect themselves from being bitten by snakes and insects. Even though they wore trousers and long-sleeved shirts， most of they got insect bites on their forearms.

At the beginning， the students caught a lot of cicadas and dragonflies， the commonest species. When the numbers of insects in group collections began to grow， the students compared competitively： whose inset was prettier， who got better specimens. In gathering insects， they let go some if the same species had been collected， or they gave away some insects to other groups if the other groups didnt happen to have them. If a group caught a very beautiful butterfly or a handsome Hercules beetle， the specimen would be proudly shown around.

Insects are a key part of an ecological system. By gathering insects and studying them， the students learned a lot about their major and were ready for further professional training.

Building Number 15 on the campus has a large showroom where insect specimens are on display. The insects are arranged scientifically in the taxonomic system. Examining them， one can learn about information on the class， order， family， genus and species of the insects in the collection.endprint