> Which goes to the heart of my difficulty with Dr. Seeley's observations
of the feral bee habits for "success" (frequent swarming, low population
density in any given area, low productivity, isolation from other colonies)
being touted as the *solution* to saving the honey bee.

I'm in complete agreement with you Janet--honey bees are in no danger of
going extinct, as exhibited by Seeley's findings.  But we are
bee-keepers--many of whom enjoy gentle, productive colonies.  The good news
is that colonies can have those desirable characteristics, and also be
strongly mite resistant.  No tradeoff is necessary.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html