And Now, a Study of How Bugs Have Influenced Our Culture

Language, literature, religion and music have been so profoundly influenced by insects that a biologist is developing a new field of study strictly devoted to the cultural contributions of bugs.

“Bugs frighten and fascinate people,” said Charles Hogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. “Almost no aspect of our culture is untouched by these creatures.”

The biologist is cataloguing references to creepy crawlers in popular culture, literature and religions of the world, examing why Americans get “as mad as hornets” or how occupied one has a to become to be as “busy as a bee.”

Hogue calls the new discipline cultural entomology--cultural because “it refers to those things that we choose to do, not what we have to do,” and entomology because it is the formal study of insects.

“Cultural entomology is the study of the influence of insects on human culture,” the biologist said. “I am interested in the study of cultural entomology in a comprehensive way.”

Hogue acknowledges that an attempt was made in the 19th Century to establish cultural entomology as a serious discipline. But he notes that it did not quite catch on in an era when such scientists as Joseph Lister and Louis Pasteur were more concerned with microscopic bugs.

He said the attempt is being made anew with fresh references, new information and a 20th-Century computer to keep track of it all.

Hogue has found that such figures of speech as “don’t bug me” exist in almost all languages and that bugs are such convincing literary tools that they often are employed in stories to express moods and images.

“So-called primitive people see a parallel between their lives and those of insects and try to emulate insects in their own cultures,” said Hogue, who serves as the museum’s curator of entomology.

“Hindu holy writings tell use that ants are divine, the first born of the world. to the ancient Egyptians, various insects were revered, especially several species of dung scarabs,” he said.

Scarabs, better known in the West as June bugs and cockchafers, are horned beetles with stout bodies and wings--sobering sights to the unsuspecting--but gods to the ancient Egyptians who buried them with their mummies.

Writing in the Annual REview of Entomology, Hogue said that because insects are a conspicuous part of the environment, they “have captured our imagination and have become incorporated into our thinking.”

Outside of the arts and religion, the biologist notes that insects helped found the Chinese silk trade and have had medical uses--for better or worse--all over the world. the destructive side of insects, gnawing termites, disease-carrying mosquitoes and cockroach infestations all belong to the science of entomology, Hogue said.

The biologist said no one will ever be able to get a degree in cultural entomology because the discipline will supplement other areas of study. But he added that once his cataloguing is complete, people may think twice before stepping on an ant.

“People historically humanized insects in religion and mythology,” he said noting that the 20th-Century equivalent is best seen in cartoon characters.

“Jiminy cricket is the best-known example of what I call a ‘mansect,”’ Hogue said. “He is mostly insect, but he can talk, wear clothes and use his insect qualities to sing.”