Bug Squad

Every day should be Spider Appreciation Day, but especially on Halloween. Ophthalmologist and professor Ivan Schwab of the UC Davis Health System says that spiders get a bad rap. Few would harm you, and only rarely are spiders aggressive towards humans.

Thursday, Nov. 7 promises to be an exciting day for the Northern California Entomology Society--a great presentation by UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz, who researches how blister beetle nest parasites cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone of a digger bee.

What will it be? Wear bees or eat insects? Lets do both! UC ANR Vice-President Barbara Allen-Diaz promises to wear beeshoney beesif she can raise $2500 by Thursday, Oct. 31 for the UC Promise for Education, a fundraising project to help needy UC students. See her promise page to donate.

We're not perfect. Mother Nature isn't, either. For several weeks, we've been rearing Gulf Fritilliary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae).

Poet Gertrude Stein, who coined "A rose is a rose is a rose," probably would have liked it. Julia Child, maybe not.