Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 3, 1994                   TAG: 9410040030
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

GETTING THE BUGS OUT? NO, THIS MAN'S GETTING THEM IN

In an office adjacent to the laboratory where he has worked for 32 years, the retired Virginia Tech entomology professor sifts diligently through an inch-deep pile of paperwork on his desk, working on the final stages of an exhaustive, 10-year project.

It's all worth it, he says, to get the nation's biological makeup on the books.

"Right now, the United States is like a factory without an inventory," Kosztarab said in his pleasant Hungarian accent. "The government needs an inventory of its own plant and animal life."

And because of Kosztarab's efforts, the government is working on it.

Kosztarab, who has devoted his life to the study of scale insects, is using his expertise to write a book identifying and recording the insects in the northeastern United States for use in a nationwide record of plant and animal life.

The book, which Kosztarab hopes to have completed by December, will cover hundreds of species of scale insects - most of which, because they feed on plants, are referred to as pests by the public.

But the book is only the beginning of Kosztarab's accomplishments.

Kosztarab, who has written three previous books recording scale insects, discovered in 1984 that the scientific community needed more - namely, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary effort to record everything from insects to plants to animals.

Ten years later, his efforts were rewarded with the resurrection of the National Biological Survey - a long-abandoned organization designed to record all living things in the United States.

"We have to know what plants and animals we have here in case of a national emergency," Kosztarab said. "In an emergency, we may not be able to rely on other nations. We have to know our natural resources in our own back yards."

In recognition of his achievement, the Association of Systematic Collections - or ASC - recently honored Kosztarab with its Annual Award for Service.

The award, a custom-made piece of artwork adorned with Kosztarab's favorite flowers, a map of his home country of Hungary and other personal touches, hangs in a place of honor in his home.

"You have to retire to have recognition come to you," he said with a laugh.

The National Biological Survey originated in 1885, Kosztarab said, but died out in 1939 because of a loss of funding and numerous other bureaucratic complications.

Kosztarab said when he became interested in resurrecting the survey in 1984, he also had a mountain of state and federal red tape in his way.

Slowly he gathered allies. After 10 years, he had the support of 39 scientific organizations, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Virginia Sen. John Warner.

"Whenever it comes to the federal government, things work very slowly," he said. "In my case, it took 10 years. But as I often say, never give up."

Kosztarab said his book on scale insects should be printed in 1995 by the Virginia Museum of Natural History at Martinsville.

He said he hopes the book, which will be designated the fourth contribution to a U.S. National Biological Survey, will encourage his colleagues in other scientific fields to prepare their own identification texts of living organisms.

"We should not shy away from long-term projects," Kosztarab said. "In fact, we should encourage them. And anyway, it's fun.

"My dream has been to come up with a book covering scale insects in northeastern North America," he said. "I'm almost there."