Natural Science Forum / Biology / Entomology / September 2007

Is there a bug spray that is lethal to spiders but is non toxic to
humans/pets/fish and is environmental friendly?

Hi...
I found this in my front yard today, with a web stretched between the ground
and a tree limb. I grew up here in East Texas and I've never seen anything
like it.

All,
I was curious if anyone out there has done differential staining of  
geni's and what stains they might use.  I'm very familiar with  
Chlorazole Black E and its action on membranesbut  was interested in  

can someone tell me which animal built this and for what purpose?
http://shh.homelinux.net/HTML/20070922/Individual/kten3721a.html
I found this cone-shaped fluffy little something hanging from a
metal beam in my backyard. The beam supports a roof, so the place

I took pictures of a little jumping spider today and when I looked
at them on the computer I realized that one leg looks 'naked', i.e.
has far less hair than the others.
Here is a link to a picture of the spider:

Hello, I am hoping someone could ID the butterfly shown in [a].
The image comes from "the Theater of Insects" By Thomas Moffet, from
1634 [b].
While the woodcut is B/W, the color is described in text. One clue is

I have a very huge hornets nest in the attic of my house. The size of
the nest is approximately 2.5x1.5x1 foot. The hornets themselves do
not bother us; however, a couple of weeks ago we began to feel a very
unpleasant odor going out of the attic. I saw some honey-like

I'm developing a cockroach simulator written in Freebasic and totally
free. If someone would like to take a look at what the current version
(still in early alpha stage) looks like just go to:
http://paulvern.newsit.es/wordpress

I am trying to hand pair some butterflies, and I am having trouble
determining structures on the male. I know it sounds stupid, but between the
claspers I see 4 moving structures and I cannot determine which is the
penis. I have searched all over in my books and online, but I ...

We saw a most interesting caterpillar last weekend (1 September)
near the Ravine Lodge at Mt.Moosilauke, near Warren, NH, USA.
Sadly, we had no camera in hand, but we did have plenty of time
to check this guy out.

can anyone identify these aquatic worms, which inhabit a
nearby drainage ditch with slow moving water.  the water
is shallow and allows them to apparently "breathe" air
by sticking their narrow end throught the top of the water.

Hello bug lovers.  Here's a question for you.
Which insects make products that humans eat?  I am not referring to
people eating the insects themselves.  The only example I have seen is
that one (?) species of honeybee makes honey.