Bug Squad

Ladybug! Ladybug! Fly away home. Your house is on fire And your children are gone.

So you're trying to rear monarch butterflies. You notice an egg on your milkweed plant, and watch its life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis. Aha, you think, soon I'll be able to see an adult monarch eclose from that chrysalis. Not so fast.

Ever ask someone where they live and they respond "I live in the sticks"? They're referring to a rural area, usually forested or farmed. Next week UC Davis alumnus Matan Shelomi will introduce you to his "sticks": the stick and leaf insects from the order Phasmatodea that he studies.

Remember that line in Gertrude Stein's 1913 poem, Sacred Emily: "A rose is a rose is a rose"? Well, to paraphrase Stein: "A bee is a bee is a bee...except when it's not a bee.

If anyone at Lake Tahoe has bee issues that need answering next week, they need look no farther than Harrah's Lake Tahoe. The beekeepers will be there! The California State Beekeepers' Association (CSBA) will meet for its 128th annual convention, Tuesday through Thursday, Nov.