Hi all A clip from Bill's post > Might the difference in cell size (and bee) be due to the climate each > inhabits? Survival would seem to dictate a smaller bee in hotter > climates and a larger one in cold or temperate climates I was thinking that the high altitude Montecola would represent the largest possibiliy in body size, as it lives at the highest altitude and in a climate that drops below freezing almost, if not, every night. As Montecola inhabits a 5.0 cell at low level and 5.1 cells at high altitude, without any influence from foundation, my thoughts were that temperate bees would range from 4.83 ish - 5.08 ish and Barry's scuts being the hottest conditions would occupy 4.3 up to 4.8 ish. The numbers may not be very precise but they follow a trend. As bodysize increases the surface are to volume ratio of the individual bee decreases causing less heat loss, but the other side of this is that smaller cells allow a closer packing density allowing a higher number of bodies generating heat, by metabolism, in a given volume. There should be an equilibrium between these two sets of circumstances , but I do not know where it lies. Regards From:- Dave Cushman, G8MZY Beekeeping and Bee Breeding, http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman IBList Archives, http://website.lineone.net/~d.cushman