Adrian Wenner's recent interesting post on swarming
includes the following observation:

" Consider first an odor-search model.  Scout bee activity
actually occurs not only on the swarm cluster but also
is quite frenzied at each potential nest cavity.  Those
of us fortunate to have watched that behavior at a
potential destination know that scouts repeatedly expose
their Nasanov glands, both inside and outside those
cavities.  Some of them also execute waggle dances on
flat surfaces near cavity entrances. "

Julian O'Dea: Professor Wenner does not comment directly
on this last observation, but it seems clear that bees
doing waggle dances near cavity entrances could not be
communicating with other bees.

Adrian Wenner:

" The dance maneuvers on the surface of the swarm clusters
and at the new site are thus merely a SYMPTOM (not a cause)
of what is happening during swarm relocation.  Julian O'Dea
hinted as much when he termed the dance "idiothetic behaviour"
in this extended exchange --- as Rosin did recently in the
AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL (p. 98 in the February issue). "

Julian O'Dea: I am trying to locate a copy of this journal
here. Unfortunately, someone has borrowed the relevant issue.
Does anyone have Dr Rosin's e-mail address? I would like
to get in contact with him. It appears that we are thinking
along similar lines. Here again is my latest writing on the
bee dance language issue:

http://naturalscience.com/ns/articles/01-13/ns_jdo.html


Julian O'Dea
Canberra, Australia