It's amazing where you pick up trivia. I certainly wasn't expecting to find out who Miss Muffet was by reading a book about waterbugs!
The Waterbug Book, by Gooderham and Tsyrlin, was published several years ago but our Field Nats Club has just got around to buying it. And because I catalogue the club's books I get to have a browse as well. While browsing this one I found out that Thomas Moufet (Moffet), a Scottish doctor, wrote about the natural history of insects and in the process was one of the first to write about freshwater macroinvertebrates. The nursery rhyme features one of his specimens as well as his daughter.
Now, what's a tuffet? Where's my dictionary?
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