0800 / 24 March 1993 Message to BEE-L subscribers A year ago January, I published a short article about swarm movement (AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, pp. 27-31). Some of the input received has been interesting and should be shared. One observer from North Carolina wrote that he had detected a strong pleasant odor when in the midst of a moving swarm (likely Nasanov odor), something I had suspected should be true. A beekeeper in Washington State has noticed more than once that all of the hundreds of scouts that have been travelling back and forth between former site and adopted site suddenly return to the parent cluster just before the swarm moves -- again, something I suspected should occur but had not yet witnessed. The most rewarding comment came from a beekeeper in Israel, who wrote, "This is the first time [a] scientist has explained most facts in the problems of swarms." Now that swarm season is once again upon us, I would appreciate hearing of other observations that might pertain to that article published a year ago January. At least some of you now have swarm hives installed. Perhaps you might notice what I noticed just prior to occupancy -- some of the scout bees were executing the dance maneuver on the outside of the swarm hive that was later to be occupied. Also, it would be of interest if any of you could confirm the observations mentioned above. Any other thoughts would be most welcome. Best wishes. Adrian M. Wenner Prof. of Nat. History, Emeritus [log in to unmask]