>>Allen Dick wrote:

>>>We have asked you to prove that bees have been increased in size
>>>significantly
>>>during the 20th century by use of artificially large foundation and that
>>>they
>>>will return to a size around 5.0 mm within a few generations if left to
>>>their
>>>own devices.

Hello Mr. Harrison -

I've been following this topic with much interest and see it has been
difficult to get the discussion beyond the same "opinion" Mr. Dick has.

He keeps asking for proof. I have been reading through the articles on the
Beesource.com web site regarding cell size and have had no problem seeing in
these articles where the size of the honey bee has been enlarged. I've
listed some below.

I also saw a link to a Swedish site that looks like it has more info on cell
measuring but since it is in Swedish, I'm not sure what it is saying. Can
anyone on this list translate this article into English for some of us?
http://www.biodlarna.se/aktuellt/artiklar/sep2000.html

Mark Otts
Mississippi

------------
A STUDY OF NATURAL HONEY-COMB.
Bee Culture - 1910
BY DR. C. C. MILLER.

"It is a common thing to say, "Worker-cells measure 5 to the inch"
(that makes the cell size right around 5 mm)

"That shows it would be feasible to have foundation with larger cells, thus
working toward a larger bee, if a larger bee would get more honey.
Of that I have some doubt."
-----------
A Biometrical Study of the Influence of Size of Brood Cell Upon the Size and
Variability of the Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)
by Roy A. Grout, 1931

"Baudoux (7), of Belgium, was the first to advocate the use of artificial
foundation with an enlarged cell base. In 1893, he reports that a Mr.
Fromont measured natural combs and found that the greater part had 825 cells
per square decimeter in comparison with certain sheets of artificial
foundation which had as high as 907 cells per square decimeter. Baudoux,
struck by the reduction in the size of bees from an old skep containing
combs having 912 cells per square decimeter, conceived the idea of raising
bees in enlarged cells. He accomplished this by means of stretching normal
foundation to the size he desired and had by 1896 sufficiently proved his
point in Belgium, that a manufacturing company began to place upon the
market artificial foundation having an enlarged cell base. It was Baudoux's
contention that the nurse bees, following a natural instinct, filled the
bottom of the larger cell more copiously with larval food, that this
resulted in a larger bee, He also intimated that the larger bee would
generate more body heat which would result in a greater quantity of brood."
-------------
The Bee World
January, 1933 - Pages 37-41
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS.
THE INFLUENCE OF CELL SIZE.
By Prof. U. BAUDOUX, Rucher-ecole experimental de Tervueren-lez- Bruxelles.
Belgium.


"I published an article in Progres Apicole (June 1893) advocating the use of
larger cells, as a result of experiments duly described. I had experimented
up to the limit of 750 cells per sq. dm. These sizes of cells were obtained
by stretching foundation. Mr. Auguste Mees subsequently made them by
stretching the sheets as they came off the cylinders, in 1893 to 1895."

"Encouraged by my experiences, I wished to do still better - to go to the
bounds of possibility."

"I therefore again proceeded by stretching foundation. Now, however, I was
working with cells already enlarged;"

"In this way, I was able to obtain sheets having only 741, 730 and even 675
cells per sq. dm."

"As can be seen, the bees reared in cells of one size are not all of the
same dimensions. For example, the 850 lot. Some of these pass through 3.8
mm., most of them through 3.9 mm., the largest through 4.0 mm. But, if the
size of gauge through which the "850s" can pass is placed at the entrance of
the "700s," not one bee of this size could pass through."

"Consider the size of the drones reared in worker cells (5 mm.)"

"I hope that, fortified by all these little details, you will be able to
prove to these people, by plain facts, what can be done by strong bees,
reared in cells of 700 to the sq. dm."
------------
The Bee World
January, 1934 - Pages 2-5
THE INFLUENCE OF CELL SIZE.
(With Illustrations and Table of Data by M. Baudoux, Tervueren, Belgium).

http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/table.htm
-----------
The Bee World
November, 1935 - Page 124

"A correspondent of Le Rucher Belge (August - September) remarks on the
frequent variation in size of cells in commercial foundation (especially now
that larger sizes are sold)."
----------
The Bee World
December, 1935 - Page 138

"and the bees themselves appear to confirm this criticism, since they tend
to retrogress in the size of cells they build when let alone."
----------
Influence of Size of Brood Cell Upon the Size of the Worker Bee*
By Roy A. Grout,** Illinois

"He arrived at the conclusion that artificial foundation having 700 cells
per square decimeter gave a bee which was superior in all its measurements
to those reared in combs constructed from the smaller sizes of artificial
foundation."
---------
XX Jubilee Apimondia Congress
August, 1965 - Pages 675-677
THE EFFICIENCY OF THE USE OF ENLARGED CELLS
HONEY-COMBS IN THE CONDITIONS OF ROMANIA
C. ANTONESCU
ROMANIA

"Under the influence of the above mentioned reports, I set myself the
purpose to experiment on the efficiency of large cell honey-combs. This was
possible beginning with the year 1941 when I was able to build honey-combs
with cells of 5.65 mm and 5.85 mm diameter, that is, 726 and respectively
678 cells per dm2."
------------
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