I saw the story, Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs, in today's Washington Post.
It didn't worry me a lot since I figure the Dragonflies that I know are not going to be easily convinced to take part in anything very far away from the marshes even with genetic engineering.
However, when I happened on the Santa Fe New Mexican version of the story, they had a side bar showing how a tomato hornworm moth could be used as a spy. Now those evil worms will do anything.
First off, I didn't know they turned into very ugly, giant moths since I kill them before they have a chance to turn into anything but an addition to Davy Jones' locker.
My war with the hornworms is well documented, I even did a post about making them walk the plank.
After all they were attacking my tomato plants. I caught them in the act of destroying foliage and even eating tomatoes right alongside the Fiddler crabs.
It was war. I would wait for the sun to go down and get them as they got active. I even had a few pre-dawn raids to capture their young.
Had I not taken out a hundred of these monsters, my tomato crop would have been non-existent.
After all standing between a Southerner and his tomato sandwiches is considered an act of war.
Still I had to come up with a creative way to get rid of them since using poison that close to the water that goes into the White Oak River was out of the question.
I came up with a simple solution. I just clipped off the tomato stem they were clinging to and heaved it off the dock into the waters of Raymond's Gut.
That way they at least got to take their last meal with them.
I really did not mean to harm our national security. I had no idea the hornworms were working for Homeland Security.
I would be glad to leave them alone if they would leave my tomato plants alone.
You would think the government could at least provide their agents with some food so my tomatoes would be safe.
You don't suppose those electronic bugs can survive in a Jumping Mullet? They have been acting a little suspicious this summer. It could be the steady diet of genetically altered hornworm spies.








