At 01:22 PM 10/23/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi All
>
>As a beekeeper I have noticed that bees are very bigoted in who they
>sting.
You might be correct in thinking that there might have been some selective
pressure on bees over that last few centuries to recognize man as a predator
and attack before being attacked.
 
    From what I have read, bees in general tend to attack dark objects.
This is not limited to humans.  Bears and some smaller animals are predators
in the US .  If I am not careful what I wear in the bee yard, I get bothered
by my bees.
     Red or dark colored clothing will entice more bees to buzz angrily
around my head and sting the darker areas.  I have a black watch band that
gets nailed every time I wear it in the yard.  The bees actually land on it
and sting me through the holes.   I do not dare to wear a brown felt hat
near my bees or I will get attacked, yet I can walk up to the same hives
without any protection or hat and have no problem with them.
     Bees rely on there sense of smell for identification of a variety of
things.  Besides the darker objects, I would think that the bees are
responding to chemical cues to differentiate predators from other objects as
well.  I know that breathing on or blowing a bee off my hand can get some
bees upset pretty quickly, especially when I have the hive cover off and
pawing around doing routine inspections.