There is no doubt that aggressive bees lead to aggressive neighbours and both are to be avoided if possible. Many queen breeders are doing a sterling job in producing non aggressive bees, however the more I see of "isolated" colonies which have had very little outside genetic material introduced over the years the more convinced I am becoming that isolation naturally leads to quiet bees. The continual introduction of new queens, which I accept is necessary in commercial operations probably leads to "vigorous" behaviour, in defence as in other characteristics. The isolated village beekeeping of our forefathers was probably the ideal scenario for the gradual production of genetically stable, non aggressive colonies. Alan Riach Nr.Edinburgh-Scotland