Abstract:
His style is ambidextrous and probably unique. He catches two forewings of a dead moth simultaneously
and pins them to his drying board, and then, in a continuous sweep, he does the same with the hind wings.
He repeats these motions again and again, like a conductor with tiny batons. Outside, it is hot and bright.
Inside, it is hot and dark. The lepidopterist, whose name is Dan Janzen, has been working here in this
Costa Rican forest for more than 40 years. He is married to his research partner, Winnie Hallwachs, and
the two of them occupy a small house with a roof of corrugated metal whose eaves cast deep shade. During
the day they work under artificial light. At night bats flit through the gaps at the top of the wall, do
hairpin turns in the air, and exit again without slowing. The utopian lepidopterist’s aim is to put names
on all the moths and butterflies in the forest. He wants to know more than just the names, of course; he
wants to know who lives where and who eats whom and to unravel the mysteries of the ecosystem. But
his first question is always the most basic one. This moth, here on the drying board: What is it called?
