Notes
Snoz beetles are curious creatures, in large part because they are not really beetles. As they skitter around small branches with their six legs and with their shiny purple scaly wings that appear as an exoskeleton, it is easy to understand why early settlers in the area would confuse them as beetles. In fact, snoz beetles are small birds. The oddity of their existence has never been adequately explained in the scientific community. This is strange, given the ages of research into the subject, dating back to to some of the earliest explorations of the lands that were once called the New World. In a notable excerpt on the subject, extracted from the letters that ultimately inspired his voyages among the iguanas and finches many years later, Darwin wrote: "These peculiar little creatures who so much resemble the royal gems set on the ancient staff of the monarchy defy categorization; they at once bear resemblance to two avian creatures: the insecte and the oiseau. Their very existence apart from other species marries disparate classes, both winged and beaked and simultaneously in carriage of an apparent chitinous frame. One must suspect that an aspect of their isolation in the darkly prehistoric and wooded vals lining this land encouraged their development. The diminutive morphology, brilliant and nearly unnatural hue and the indurated exterior must certainly have developed to protect them from other equally distinct local fauna. One must therefore query the nature of the beast inspiring such evolution." There is no record that Darwin ever described a flying monkey, presumably because he never witnessed one. But possibly because, if he had seen one, he did not believe what he saw.