> in their natural economy honey- bees winter practically without any major amount of pollen (or protein) but consume only honey, a fairly pure mixture of carbohydrates: and since they would apparently have come to do this in the face of natural selection, it is perhaps a fact worth thinking about.  ...  just as flowers have been modified by natural selection into forms which make their pollen conveniently available to bees, so the nectar of flowers may have become modified into a very pure form of carbohydrate (with in general very low levels of protein) partly because absence of protein has given the highest survival of overwintering honeybee colonies, able to continue the pollination of the flowers of succeeding seasons. ...  on the other hand, however, the low protein in nectars could also be a question of providing an ideal mixture for safe storage over winter without fermentation or other deterioration, which again could have been achieved by natural selection.

Summary.

> In 367 examinations of healthy honeybee colonies during each of the months September to March inclusive, conducted over 7 years, the quantities of brood present and the quantities of pollen in the combs were determined. The brood minimum occurred in October, when brood was present in only 14% of colonies, while throughout the period of wintering the quantity of pollen per colony averaged only 3 oz. In colonies which had been queenright, quantities of pollen stored in capped cells were negligible in comparison with quantities in open cells. It is suggested that bees may have come to winter practically without protein as a result of natural selection.

WINTER BROOD AND POLLEN IN HONEYBEE COLONIES
by EdWard P. JEFFREE, B. Sc.
Bee Besearch Department, North of Scotland College of Agriculture, Marlschal College, Aberdeen
INSECTES SOCIAUX,TOME III, No 3, 1956.

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