Pete, that's an interesting post.  If Koch was one of those European "beehouse" beeks, the light/dark contrast may have been more important than color as you suggested, but unless those colors were randomly placed in the beehouse lineup, lateral drift might have been an influencing factor too.  There's also the possibility of the color affecting the internal temperature once hit by the sun, ie, earlier morning warmup and the foragers would be more active earlier, no?

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