I have got this from Ingemar Fries, and forward it to the list members.
 
 
The theory of stiffening hair giving protection to T-mites have been
thouroughly investigated and disproved:
 
Lee, D C (1963) The susceptibility of honey bees of different ages to
infestation by Acarapis woodi (Rennie). J. Insect Pathol. 5: 11-15.
 
Lee shows in well designed experiments that stiffening of the vestibular
guard hairs are not responsible for the age induced resistance. Lee
suggests that older bees for some reason are less attractive than
younger
bees.
 
Ingemar
 
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Regards
 
P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
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