I lack 100 colonies these days, so I cannot perform a test with enough data
points to be considered a statistically significant sample of bee behavior.

 

But, I had a bee get up a nostril one day back in the 90s, and it was not
any happier than I was about it.  I got a very good whiff of alarm
pheromone, up close and personal.  It smelled, NOT like real bananas, but
like the artificial banana candy, which is a very different odor from a
natural banana.

 

Yeah, I got stung.  Yeah, my nose swelled up and got even bigger than
normal, perhaps hard to imagine for those of you who have met me and my
nose.  So, word to the wise, do not attempt to exhale sharply to expel the
bee, instead, pinch your nose between thumb and forefinger, and the bee with
it.  Better yet, hit your nose on  whichever side is appropriate with one or
more fingers. Maybe that will save you a sting.  But I was laughing so hard
at having a bee up my nose (it tickles), my reaction time was slower than it
should have been.

 

As a bit of trivia, Isopentyl acetate (the chemical apparently at issue
here) is made via a process invented by a German chemist who was a relative
of mine, the process is called "Fischer esterification".  (Yet, puzzlingly,
no girls born to the family since have been named "Esther".  Such is the
appalling lack of both science education and the state of the dying art of
long lead-time practical jokes.)



 

 


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