>data rather than speculation.

>• It's not either/or. You need both. Quoting Charles Darwin:

But not necessarily in that order?

I often feel that this list often discourages speculation without data, yet speculation may often produce ideas from those who do not have the means to obtain the necessary data to confirm or disprove their ideas.  Those ideas may then inspire those with the means to gather the necessary data.

On the other hand, speculation may result from looking at data that has been gathered just because it is there.

Speculators and data gatherers may have different types of brain?

So, my speculation:

Swarms build comb very quickly, therefore there must be a large proportion of younger (wax-making age) bees in a swarm.

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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