FEBRUARY REARVIEW

HALLANADALE, Fla. — Barry the Bugman’s holiday treats come in crunchy and extra crunchy — even his eggnog.

Barry the Bugman is Barry Murray, spokesman for Truly Nolen Inc., one of the nation’s largest family-owned pest control companies. Late last year, he released "Not a Creature Was Stirring," a short cookbook of holiday treats with a twist: the recipes are made with insects. His recipes for 2000 included Ant Nog, Sticky Cinnamon Beetle Buns and Jumpin’ Gingerbread Grasshopper cookies. The recipes are available at the Truly Nolen Web site at www.trulynolen.com.

"What most people don’t realize is that insects are a staple or a delicacy in many cultures in Asia and Africa," Murray said.

How many nutrients do these insects add to a meal? According to Montana State University figures, insects contain the following (FYI, lean ground beef averages about 27.4 grams of protein per 100 grams):

• Small grasshoppers average about 20.6 grams of protein per 100 grams.

• Giant water beetles have 9.8 grams of protein.

• Red ants average 13.9 grams of protein.

• Termites are a good source of iron, averaging about 35.5 milligrams per 100 grams.

• Crickets average more than 75 milligrams of calcium.

Employment rose modestly in December and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported in January. Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 105,000, as gains in government and other service-producing industries more than offset large declines in manufacturing and help supply services.

Throughout the last three months of 2000, total payroll employment gains averaged 77,000, compared with an average monthly gain of 187,000 during the first nine months of the year and 229,000 a month for all of 1999. Average hourly earnings increased by 5 cents in December, the report stated.

As mosquitoes become more resistant to insecticides, new control strategies that help control malaria are needed. A protein in the salivary glands of female mosquitoes may lead to one new approach, according to Daily University Science News.

An important step in the life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite — the bug that causes malaria — is its invasion of the salivary glands of the female Anopheles mosquito. Once inside the gland, the parasite can then be launched into a human host when the insect takes a blood meal.

Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health have identified a protein in the salivary glands of the female Anopheles gambiae mosquito that appears to help Plasmodium recognize and gain entrance to that mosquito’s salivary gland.

Researchers have discovered they can reduce the numbers of parasites in mosquito salivary glands if they neutralize this protein with an antibody they’ve raised. The study appears in the December 2000 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

• Legislative Update: FQPA, Pesticide Bans and More

• A PCO’s Bird Management Field Guide

• Identifying Reculse and Hobo spiders