In the absence of insecting-aus....
This has nothing to do with birds, but as there are some fairly erudite
natural historian contributors to this list, I thought I'd take the liberty
of posting an entomological/linguistic question.
My father is currently reading "World Without End" by GILBERT FRANKAU,
1884-1952.
It's set in Paraguay apparently and mentions swarms of pulverins, which -
from the context - my father takes to be insects. My searching, both on the
www and in dictionaries, has informed me that pulverin means powder, both in
French and Finnish and perhaps has a particular connection to gunpowder. I
can't find any reference connecting the word to the insect world.
Anybody have a comprehensive guide to the insects of Paraguay?
Any other ideas on how to determine whether the presumed invertebrate
pulverin has an alternative name?
Many thanks
Philip Griffin
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