So far, so good.

More than a year ago, Africanized honeybees, also known as killer bees, were expected to migrate from Florida to the Augusta area by this summer. However, the ill-tempered insects have been content to remain in the Sunshine State.

"As far as we know, there are not any here in Georgia yet," said Columbia County Extension Agent Charles Phillips.

He said the killer bees surfaced in Jacksonville, Fla., in October 2006, but he doesn't know why they haven't ventured farther north.

Neither does Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"They're not contained or eradicated," he said.

According to information on the Florida Agriculture Department's Web site, Florida's first human fatality from Africanized honeybee stings occurred this year in Okeechobee County, in the central part of the state. Numerous dogs and a horse also have died in Florida from such stings.

Mr. Phillips said it is hard to tell the difference between the bees and the smaller European honeybees on sight.

"The main thing is their habits," he said.

European bees take 30 to 45 seconds to get "riled up," and they send 10 percent to 15 percent of the worker bees out to protect the hive, Mr. Phillips said. Africanized honeybees get angry in three to five seconds, and they dispatch about 85 percent of the worker bees to protect the hive, he said. European bees calm down in three to five minutes, but their Africanized counterparts will attack for 30 to 45 minutes, he said.

Africanized honeybees were first spotted in the United States in Texas in 1990. They originally were brought to Brazil from Africa in 1956 to breed bees that would produce more honey in the tropics.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Web site, Africanized honeybees have spread to nine states. In addition to Florida and Texas, they have been found in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada.