Box And Cox

When I spotted this bug on a Cox windfall apple I didn't recognise it as a box bug. It's much darker and sturdier than the box bugs that I have been shooting over the summer. It initially looked more like a forest bug to me.

Thinking of a title, Box and Cox popped into my head from I know not where. Was it Dr. Seuss? No, that's Fox in Socks. Turns out that Box and Cox is a farce of 1846 by John Maddison Morton. It was adapted as a one-act comic opera in 1866 by the dramatist FC Burnand and the composer Arthur Sullivan.

All this has reminded me of the rough and ready Mr Box, who owned a skip business. He had a sensitive/romantic side and used to spend a fortune with us on cut flowers for his wife.

PS Am now wondering whether it's a regular, ubiquitous dock bug. I usually see these in aggregations rather than alone.