On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Joel Govostes wrote:
 
> What is of further fascination is that a colony is made up
> of several sub-colonies. That is, the queen can mate with
> a number of drones.  So you end up with many sub-colonies,
> each composed of sisters from a common drone-father.  Yet,
> the colony still works together.
 
Here's an interesting further thought.
 
It's fairly clear that workers pass on a maximum of their
own genetic material by being nursemaids etc. for their queen
sisters. That's what they get out of being 'slaves' for the queen.
 
In a queenless colony, they will try to attract in a newly mated
queen from elsewhere. What do they get out of this? They will
live out their own personal lifespan. Any queen sistrs stand
a fair chance withour without a new queen. Why attract in a
'alien' queen?
 
Regards,
--
Gordon Scott   [log in to unmask]      [log in to unmask] (work)
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Beekeeper; Kendo 3rd Dan; Sometime sailor.  Hampshire, England.