The Chthonic Realm of Our Psyche: Mythic and Moral Aspects of Dracula’s Nature

Myths reflect the collective experience of mankind. Certain things recur in world myths. Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist and analyst noticed that his patients’ dreams contained a lot of similar motives without being acquainted with one another. He observed that these motives in dreams are akin to motives appearing in myths, tales and legends. These archaic pictures or symbols which are universally recognized, he entitled archetypes. The distant locations of vampiric entities prove that vampirism is also a universal phenomenon. In the following article I intend to explore the essential inherent mythic characteristics of Stoker’s Dracula, focusing on possible conceptions of morality

The Optimal Choice of Trap Type for the Recently Spreading Jewel Beetle Pests Lamprodila festiva and Agrilus sinuatus (Coleoptera, Buprestidae)

BACKGROUND: Two jewel beetle species native to Europe, the cypress jewel beetle, Lamprodila (Palmar, Ovalisia) festiva L. (Buprestidae, Coleoptera), and the sinuate pear tree borer, Agrilus sinuatus Olivier (Buprestidae, Coleoptera), are key pests of ornamental thuja and junipers and of orchard and ornamental rosaceous trees, respectively. Although chemical control measures are available, due to the beetles’ small size, agility, and cryptic lifestyle at the larval stage, efficient tools for their detection and monitoring are missing. Consequently, by the time emerging jewel beetle adults are noticed, the trees are typically significantly damaged. METHODS: Thus, the aim of this study was to initiate the development of monitoring traps. Transparent, light green, and purple sticky sheets and multifunnel traps were compared in field experiments in Hungary. RESULTS: Light green and transparent sticky traps caught more L. festiva and A. sinuatus jewel beetles than non-sticky multifunnel traps, regardless of the larger size of the colored surface of the funnel traps. CONCLUSIONS: Although light green sticky sheets turned out to be optimal for both species, using transparent sheets can reduce catches of non-target insects. The key to the effectiveness of sticky traps, despite their reduced suitability for quantitative comparisons, may lie in the behavioral responses of the beetles to the optical features of the traps