Group leader Terry Philips, an entomologist, showed me where they were sitting when they caught the first one.
"It was right here. I expect they'll put a statue here, eventually, when the full impact of what we're dealing with finally sinks in. I think a suitable inscription would be 'It started here.'."

"After the first one, we thought it would be easy. Make an analysis of the attractant compounds in the Bourbon, test them on our first subject, and then use a proprietory trap of the correct size. Unfortunately our first bee seemed to have 'gone on the wagon'. We decided to go ahead with our trapping program anyway, and guestimated the bait. We each took one trap to a designated position in the jungle and watched it from a discreet distance. Two days later and we still hadn't caught another 'Tak'."

"Then came the breakthrough we'd been waiting for. And that, in fact, was the crux of the matter. We stopped 'trying' to catch them and when we went to fetch the traps, we'd caught four. With all the excitement going on round here now, I doubt if we'll ever catch another one. They 'know' you're looking for them."

"It's only natural selection. These animals have evolved to the point where they now have extra sensory powers which help them to survive. Some environmental influence, maybe some super stealthy predatory species, has forced them into an evolutionary 'arms race' and this is the current state of their weaponry. The world's finest sentries. They don't sleep, and they can read the enemies mind."

At ISBuC we were suprised to hear such a fuss about this animal. We thought everybody knew about them. Surely you must have heard the phrase I'm ready as a Leather Bee