Hello Allen,

Sunday, February 17, 2002, 6:25:35 AM, you wrote:
Hi Allen!

I would like to comment on bee cell size again. In Germany there has
been beekeping on natural combs for over fivehundred years using skeps
and there are still some apiaries using that technique. So there are
bees that never have seen foundations for hundreds of generations. The
cell size of combs constructed by these bees is still between 5.3 and 5.4
mm (805 cells per square decimeter) comming close to 5.37 mm which is
the average of cell size for normal combs in germany. See for instance
F. Gerstung: Der Bien und seine Zucht. 7. Auflage 1924; or:
Zander and Weiss: Handbuch der Bienenkunde Volulme 4; Verlag Eugen
Ulmer 1964 (first Edition 1921).
I hope this clears some of the comments that no data are available for
bees wich built natural combs.


Best regards,
 Ahlert                            mailto:[log in to unmask]