Hey ship, do you think you could help me figure out a certain type of bug? When I went to camp my councilors used to show us one that if you picked it up and shook it it smelled like cherries and I can’t figure out what it was exactly, all I remember is the cherry thing and I think it was black and yellow

glumshoe:

Sounds like a cherry millipede or a similar species from the Xystodesmidae family! The cherry/almond smell is actually a combination of

benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, which the millipede secretes as a defensive mechanism when disturbed – wash your hands afterwards!

Isoamyl acetate is the distinctive smell of bananas… but it’s also used in the alarm pheromones of honey bees. Don’t use banana-scented lotions in places where you’re likely to encounter bees, ‘cause they might smell you and think you’re a marked man who needs to die.