<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Hi <font face="Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif">Kumar</font>, everybody,<br>
<br>
Thank you very much for this personal message.<br>
One needs not fancy pictures sent to someone's complete address
book. Just a few words are enough ;-)<br>
<br>
For me, this year has ended with some really sad news, but also
some things to enjoy and look forward to.<br>
Like at my work, where a dear and still young colleague suddenly
has to face the horror of cancer, with a very uncertain near
future ahead.<br>
On the other side the good news that my temporary -taxonomy based-
job will be a permanent one starting 2014.<br>
<br>
At the moment I am enjoying two weeks off, so I should finally
have some more time to look at some nice flies. <br>
Portugal. Cyprus. Iran. Spain. Siberia.<br>
But first, today, a nice family gathering at my humble home.<br>
<br>
I hope you will spend some good moments with your loved ones.<br>
And I wish you a smooth landing in the year to come: 2014!<br>
<br>
André</font><br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">op 25-12-13 08:11, Kumar Ghorpade
schreef:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1387955472.97065.YahooMailNeo@web190906.mail.sg3.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff;
font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial,
Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:8pt">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Georgia, serif;">Its 5 a.m. on a cold Christmas day in
Dharwar (our ‘cold
season’ now, no ‘winter’ here in the tropics) and it seems
most appropriate and
practical to use this site to wish my hover-flyer ‘family’
and friends a Merry
X’mas and a wonderful coming New Year 2014 !
May us all document further interesting and novel data on
these
beautiful flies together, like the many wonderful papers
published this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Georgia, serif;"> We in India also
celebrate Christmas (a government holiday here, like many
Hindu and Muslim
festivals) in this ancient civilization with a
multi-religious, multi-lingual,
multi-ethnic population of immigrants (by sea and then
overland) from Eurasia, actually mostly from the
Euphrates-Tigris river valleys in current Iraq (Persia,
Mesopotamia) as DNA
research has revealed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Georgia, serif;"> I was browsing
information about Alfred Russel Wallace (his centenary death
anniversary fell
on 7<sup>th</sup> November 2013) for a forthcoming paper on
Oriental <i>Spheginobaccha </i>de Meijere, and found the
following in his writings to share with you all :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Georgia, serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>" A very tall
Pig with a very long nose <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>Sends forth a
proboscis right down to his toes,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> And then by the name of an Elephant
goes, <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>Which Nobody can
Deny !<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>" An Ape with
a pliable thumb and big brain, <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>When the gift of
the gab he had managed to gain,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> As Lord of Creation established his
reign,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> Which Nobody can Deny !<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;">And my collection of “Nonsense Rhymes” (with
drawings) by
Edward Lear had nothing on flies but the following may be
appropriate to help
novices distinguish a hover-fly from its bee model :<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>“There was an Old
man in a tree,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>Who was horribly
bored by a Bee;<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>When they said,
‘Does it buzz?’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>He replied, ‘Yes,
it does!’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i>‘It’s a regular
brute of a Bee!’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;">Being also an ‘Old’ Man now (what the hell
is ‘old’
anyway?), I would recognize a <i>hover-fly</i>
by the way it flies, graceful and unique, in character, unlike
any bloody heavy
bee!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"> And I agree with
Wallace, my teen-age years collector-explorer hero (like
Gerald Durrell was,
after Jim Corbett, with his great books I bought with my
pocket-money and read
in delight), when he wrote :<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"><span style="background-position: initial
initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">"Those who
succeed in the race for
wealth are by no means the best or the most
intelligent ..." A.R.
Wallace (1890) “<i>Human Selection</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;"> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: middle;
background-position: initial initial; background-repeat:
initial initial;">Cheers and have a happy holiday after
working hard all year;
take ‘a break’ as they say nowadays,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dr Kumar Ghorpade, Scientist Emeritus, Post-Graduate
Teacher & Research Associate in Systematic Entomology,
University of Agricultural Sciences, Krishi Nagar, Dharwar 580
005, Karnataka, INDIA. <br>
Postal Mailbox: P.O. Box 221, K.C. Park Post Office, Dharwar
580 008, INDIA. Registered mail to: "Bell Bungalow,"
Kumareswar Colony 1st Cross, off Haliyal Road, Saptapur,
Dharwar 580 001 (INDIA).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<p>This message and any attachment are intended solely for the
addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have
received this message in error, please send it back to me, and
immediately delete it. Please do not use, copy or disclose the
information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any
views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham.</p>
<p>This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of
an attachment may still contain software viruses which could
damage your computer system, you are advised to perform your own
checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham
may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.</p>
<br>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Syrphidae mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk">Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>