Peter Borst wrote (1:14 pm 1/9/00):

>Re Bee dances
>
>In this forum, Adrian Wenner has repeatedly stated that the bee
>language hypothesis is not being treated objectively but is a "fairy
>tale" accepted by the weak-minded, gullible, and subservient.

   (Etc., including many errors of fact and interpretation)

********

   By now most readers of this forum must know that such a statement is
totally unfair and the sort of language we encountered when we first
experimentally tested (by more rigorous designs than proponents used) the
language hypothesis in the 1960s and 1970s and found it wanting.

   Of the dozens of messages posted on this subject recently and received
by me privately, Peter's comments have been the only such hostile
expressions.  I will provide a summary of that input when time permits.

   In the meantime, consider one of Peter's final statements:  "In thirty
years, very few people have been persuaded to abandon the dance language
hypothesis."

   Actually, my files now bulge with supportive statements from both
beekeepers and bee researchers, in sharp contrast to Peter's impression.
My colleagues and I feel very good about the success of our educational
efforts this past decade (after having taken a successful leave of absence
into marine biology for two decades) --- with regard to the weaknesses of
the bee language hypothesis.

                                                        Adrian

Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106

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*
*     "...it is lamentable how each man draws his own different conclusions
*                from the very same fact"
*
*          Charles Darwin, in a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace on 1 May
1857
*
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