To the editor:

There are several errors in the article, “Rattlesnake discovered for the first time in county.”

Mr. Collins is not “a former Kansas University professor.” He was a classified employee (a preparator in the Natural History Museum) during most of his employment at KU. His position was later changed to unclassified as a “zoologist/editor.” He is not “an adjunct professor with the Kansas Biological Survey.” In fact, he is not listed on their Web site as having any official affiliation with the survey. The J-W regularly has described Mr. Collins as a former KU professor. This is insulting to the individuals who have gone through the rigorous selection process to become bona fide professors at the university.

The snake that Collins claims to have found is not the first record of a massasauga from Douglas County. In 1978, when he worked at the Natural History Museum, Collins added a specimen to the collection that was from nearly the same locale (1.7 kilometers east of the Douglas County line on U.S. Highway 56). It is important to note that merely finding one or two individuals of a species is not “definitive proof” that the species is part of a resident population. For this, scientists require evidence of an established breeding population — as Collins should know, two male snakes do not constitute a breeding population.

Contrary to what Collins told the reporter, it is highly unlikely that massasaugas “may find their way to the Baker Wetlands,” unless someone intentionally releases them there.

John E. Simmons,

Lawrence