Christina - questioning a statement doesn't necessarily mean we question  
the credentials of the author.
 
I have the Buzz of the Bee book, its a beautiful book, great photos;  one 
of my favorites.  
 
However, it sometimes takes a small amount of information and freely  
hypothesizes.  That's not necessarily bad.   It MAY be a  translation problem, 
but the line is sometimes blurred about what is known  and what is conjecture. 
 
 
I found that the most interesting ideas have no references.   Wen I first 
read the book I found a few things that I'd not encountered before,  and like 
you, it got my attention.  I found some of the statements in  the book were 
well backed up, some were not - or at least, not in any  literature I could 
find.  He at times seems to present a knowledge of some  ongoing, yet 
mostly unpublished work.  He also seems to like to take a  behavioral observation 
and then on not much more than that simple  observation build a complete 
explanation of why it occurs, the purpose it  serves.
 
So, there were a few times when I'd find an issue I'm well familiar  with 
in the book and felt that it came off as  being  factual; rather than a 
presumption or the author's conclusion.  That  doesn't take away from the book - 
just don't take everything stated in the  book as proven by hard 
experimentation.
 
His book reminded me of Van Frisch - great on observation; great for  
stimulating discussion, great for challenging ideas.  But, like the dance  
language, some of his ideas seemed to reflect his own musings.  Only time  will 
tell.
 
So, yes, I think he's right that  we've lots to learn.  But, note  the 
title of the Chapter - Tuning the Telephone Line.  That's a bit of a  leap of 
faith.
 
Measuring oscillations in comb and the effects of structure - appear to be  
observations that can be verified.  Does that mean bees use comb as a  long 
distance telephone line - not necessarily.  
 
I stated, the charge also changes when bees step on and off - the comb is  
much like a capacitor.  So, do they use it as a telegraph? 
 
We can hypothesize but still don't know whether or how bees might use  
either of these for communications. 
 
Jerry
 

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