>The pore in the hard conical Apis cerana drone capping results from a
>spinning process.
Otto Boecking. Apidologie Volume 30, Number 6, 1999

True but as dr. Harris said the bees can seal if they want. The pore is left
on purpose.

Peter said:
>My reading of this is that the cap of the cerana drone is hard to remove,
>and the hole is probably for air flow. When it is closed, the drone dies.
>Apis mellifera uses a porous capping on the brood which allows the brood to
>breathe.

Air flow? This hypothesis is a hard to comprehend due to the size of the
hole. Big enough for a varroa to crawl through? Interesting hypothesis but
the size of the hole seems to say other than simply air flow.

Also if the bees seal the hole as Dr. Harris says they do at times (with his
hypothesis to keep varroa out)
how do the pupa get air then Peter?

bob

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