Test PB Collection: FTE

Hillary Thomas' biological control research on a leaf-eating beetle that targets saltcedar has scored a bullseye. Thomas, a doctoral candidate in entomology at UC Davis, has received a $15,000 Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship to support her research.

If she were boarding an airline, she'd be charged double for baggage. But she didn't and she wasn't. She's a pollen-packed sunflower bee enjoying our sunflower. Not a honey bee but a sunflower bee. A native bee.

We know it works, but how? Just how does DEET work? Does it jam the senses of a mosquito? Does it mask the smell of the host? You spray the chemical repellent on your arm and thankfully, those darn skeeters leave you alone.

The war is overagain, wrote reporter Pat Brennan of the Orange County Register in a news article published Aug. 14. Brennan was referring to the war against the Mediterranean fruit fly, a tiny pest that targets some 260 crops.

I've got black bumblebees buzzing around our backyard like crazy, the caller said. They're loud. Very loud. They're dive-bombing and scaring the cat and dog. I've never seen anything like this before. The unwelcome visitors were not bumblebees. They were carpenter bees.

Ouch! So, you've been stung by a bee. If you're a beekeeper, an occasional sting is a natural part of beekeeping. UC Davis apiculturist Eric Mussen says that the average beekeeper may be stung approximately 3000 times a year.

I've always loved the wit and wisdom of insect-inspired poets. God in His wisdom made the fly And then forgot to tell us why. - - Ogden Nash "The Fly" We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.

Announcing our new Rice Advisor Resistant Watergrass Control Field Meeting - September 5, 2007...

When the California State Fair, Sacramento, opens Friday, Aug. 15 for an 18-day run, don't miss "California's Gold" and "Nature's Gallery" in the UC Davis Centennial Pavilion (Building 3).

I'm standing in line at the photo center, waiting to pay for the dozen 8x10 photos of noted entomologist Richard Bohart that I'd ordered for his UC Davis memorial. Doc, as he was called, died Feb. 1, 2007 in Berkeley at age 93 after a career spanning 70 years--33 at UC Davis.