Dear Carl,


Your legacy continues.  You will be delighted to read the latest State of Observed Species (SOS) Report from the International Institute for Species Exploration.  It documents that 19,232 new species were named in calendar year 2009... about twice as many species as you knew in your lifetime!  You will not be surprised that the largest number were insects, and of those, beetles.  Some things never change.  Your life's work continues apace and there is no end in sight.  Frontiers are opening on every front.  The Russians will probably break through the ice shield of Antarctica this week to tap the third largest freshwater lake on earth, its first connection with the surface through thousands of metres of ice for hundreds of thousands of years.  Like one of your blushing flowers, Vostok will soon yield its biodiversity for our exploration and amazement.  And the IISE is on the threshold of a demonstration project that will show how museums and their collections can be catapulted into center stage for biodiversity research and exploration in the 21st century.

Your humble disciple,


QDW