A little known campus service called the Insect Hotline is fast making Berkeley the Dear Abby of the bug world. Letters and phone calls to the three entomologists who man the hotline flood in from all over the world.
Many queries are routine, but some are as exotic as the bugs in question.
She wanted to know just what creatures inhabit her instrument and how to eradicate them before they're inhaled. Another fellow wanted Berkeley's professional opinion on whether it would be wise to eat his pests on purpose. Dunbar pulls out a thank-you letter he wrote last October after accepting a donation. From their rooms full of bugs and books in a battered portable at Oxford tract, just northwest of campus, they dispense advice. We're here to assist consumers in the information process.