>Date:    Wed, 5 Feb 1997 09:12:48 -0700
>From:    Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Deep Woods Off
 
>Well, he keeps a can of 'Deep Woods Off' in each truck and just
>sprays the worker and the air around him with the stuff and the bees
>leave him alone for a half hour or so.
 
>Now I had often wondered about using bug repellants, but felt it
>would be inhumane to spray bees with stuff that makes them want to
>get away from themselves, but sometimes we get desperate.
 
I'm not an entomologist, nor do I play one on t.v., nor am I advocating
that we spray bees with insect repellants... but I do know that repellants
aren't necessarily designed to kill insects.  The only thing I remember
from the high school chemistry class I took in 1975 was from an article I
read in Scientific American about mosquito repellants.
 
I may not be remembering the details correctly, but in essence:  when
people or animals move through the woods, they leave behind a very faint
"trail" of CO2 and water vapor (?) exuded from their body pores. Mosquitos
fly around looking for such a trail, which they detect with their antenna.
When they find a trail, they follow it in search of a victim.  They track
these trails by flying straight; when they no long detect the "trail" (such
as will occur if the potential victim didn't walk in a straight line, or if
the mosquito is not heading directly down the "trail") they slowly turn
until they find it again; then fly straight again; etc.
 
Mosquito repellants work (at least in the mid 70's) by blocking the pores
in mosquitos's antennas.  When a mosquito comes close to a person wearing
repellant, the repellant blocks the antennas' pores and the mosquito turns
away from the person because it thinks its lost the "trail".  The article
described how the active ingredients in repellants use molecules large
enough to effectively block the pores.  The repellants directly do not kill
the insects, only confuse them about where the potential victim is located.
 
Since reading this article, I've noticed that when I'm wearing a repellant
mosquitos often will hover a few inches away from me, not approaching but
also not flying away.  I've assumed that the mosquitos are hovering at the
edge of where the repellant's molecules are effective.
 
I have no idea why Deep Woods Off might work with bees, but I wouldn't
worry about it killing or harming them as long as you put it on yourself
and not them.
 
Tim
 
 
 
Timothy W. Kelsey                 Dept of Agricultural Economics
[log in to unmask]                                & Rural Sociology
(814) 865-9542                             Penn State University
http://www.aers.psu.edu/f/kelsey.htm