Knowing what a critter will eat, and will not, what he will tunnel through to
mature and fly away or will tunnel into to breed, will tunnel through out of
stupidity, or in keeping with a plan for world domination, is your only defence.
If you can't out smart 'em, you will poisen your environment long before you have
any lasting effect on them.  Sort of like the people who seem to create work for
me...they ain't any smarter, there are just too damned many of them.

-jc

Heidi Harendza wrote:

> In a message dated 04/05/2000 10:16:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > Unlike donuts cellulose remains as tasty -- to termitos and fungi -- after a
> >  century of service as the day it was cut. Does anyone have documentation
> >  that would support the donut theory of decay?
>
> I don't know if this counts-
> I went to a bug seminar many moons ago (yes, a BUG seminar, I know... almost
> as good as the rat research... anyway)
>
> The entomologist (my spell check is broken) talked about certain wood boring
> insects, like the powder post beetle, which will only eat certain parts of
> the dead wood. The powder post beetle will only eat the sap wood, which is
> contained in the outer rings of the tree; it will not eat the heart wood,
> which is in the center of the tree trunk. Ergo, powder post beetles will only
> eat the outside inch or two of a floor plank-- it won't touch the center of
> the plank.
>
> It's like a kid eating the crust of a sandwich, but not the inside. Or the
> dough of a donut, but not the creme filling.
>
> -Heidi