by emptying out any containers outdoors that may have standing water in them 
for long periods. Second, if forced by necessity (as in gardening) or desire 
(as in insect collecting) to be in mosquito infested areas consider wearing 
a repellent. There is relatively little danger of contracting encephalitis, 
but an ounce of prevention in this case isn't costly in time and effort. 
HONEYBEE VOTED STATE INSECT 
The WES NEWSLETTER Volume 6 Number 1 contained an article on the debate 
over the choice of an official state insect. Here is the unfortunate conclu- 
sion to the story. 
Effective May 16, 1978 section 1.10 of the Wisconsin State statutes was 
amended to make the honeybee the state's official insect. Economics overrules 
reality again. The way the bill was handled before it even got out of committee 
illustrates this. 
A bill to make the honeybee Wisconsin's official state insect was submitted 
by state Rep. Gervase Hephner (D-Chilton) on March 8, 1977, "at the request of 
the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, Inc.". An identical bill had been 
introduced on February 2, 1977 by Rep Richard Matty (R.-Crivitz) on behalf of 
a class of third grade scoolchildren from Marinette, Wise. This was two months 
before the Hephner bill was submitted. The Assembly Agriculture Committee 
endorsed the Hephner bill 12-0 despite the primacy of the Matty bill, and 
despite that according to Matty "it is the same bill, word for word.". The 
Assembly Agriculture Committee also discarded an ammendment proposed by Hephner 
that the state insect be chosen by a vote of the state's gradeschool children. 
On March 14, 1978 the assembly voted the honeybee Wisconsin's official 
state insect by a vote of 97-1. An ammendment to make the honeybee the state 
domestic insect and the monarch butterfly the official state insect was voted 
down by a large majority. On March 31, 1978 the senate supported the assembly's 
choice. An amendment by Sen. David Berger (D. -Milwaukee) which proposed that 
the honeybee be named the official state domestic insect and the dragonfly be 
named the official state wildlife insect was rejected without debate. 
The honeybee is about as unique to Wisconsin as the domestic dog. Wisconsin 
is fifth in the U.S. in honey production not first. The other official Wisconsin 
state symbols (muskellunge , badger, galena, dairy cow, etc.) are all things 
unique to or at least characteristic of our state. The honeybee symbolizes 
nothing. It is truly unfortunate that with a host of other possibilities, 
the lawmakers of our state made such an unrepresentative choice. 
PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST : 
The Insects. Readings from Scientific American 
Thomas Eisner and Edward 0. Wilson, eds. 1977. 
352 pages, 325 illustrations. W.H. Freeman and Company, 
San Francisco. $7.95, softbound. 
This collection of articles from Scientific American will be of interest 
4 
