PORTLAND, ME. Mike’s Real Dead Bugs announces its 2001 Dead Bug Drive. "America’s favorite provider of dead bug fine art and collectibles" is once again soliciting dead bugs from the public. All bugs are wanted - from common houseflies to exotic beetles - to assist in the creation of fabulous works of art. Those interested in helping out are encouraged to "clean out your windowsills and radiators, and send in those bugs!"

Contributors who send in a donation will receive a free, limited-edition, laminated "Dead Bug Scout" card, inscribed with their name, and bearing an honest-to-goodness Real Dead Bug.

Mike’s Real Dead Bugs Founder, President and Executive Laminator, Michael Branca, started this operation in 1997. Since then he has received bugs from seventeen states and four countries. His bug art has been featured in art galleries and natural history museums in Maine and New Mexico. Articles have been written in the Utne Reader and a handful of newspapers. Mike has talked about his bugs on WGME-TV, and radio stations accross the country.