Nov 93 - Bayfront Byline Bug Walk Some Cautions on Handling Insects and Spiders Since I recently encouraged you to include insects and spiders on your outings, I feel the need to pass on some words of caution. Insects and spiders are equipped with various means of defense, some active and some passive, which you may or may not encounter. Excluding those insects which need a blood meal to complete their life cycles, many insects and spiders can bite but usually only do so when they have become trapped and perceive you as something other than scenery. Occasionally, under the right circumstances, you, or rather some small part of you such as a finger, may be perceived as prey.
Stings usually occur when an insect like a wasp, hornet or bee gets trapped.
Since most of us recognize the potential of these insects, such trapping is usually accidental. As a child, it took me several painful summers before I consistently associated the clover blooming on my grandfather's lawn with active honey bees. Normally stinging is used only as a last resort because the insect is temporarily defenseless when the venom is used up. In the case of the honey bee, the bee dies. A number of insects, including the harlequin bugs and the so-called stink beetles, will spray.