> "Under a microscope you'll see the mites crawl
> out to the ends of the long hairs of bees and wave their arms out in the
> air, trying to latch onto another bee. We aren't sure, but it may be
> that the oil prevents them from grabbing the bees like that."
>   
I believe it was later that the theory was more smell than catching on. 
Adult bees are shunned by the mite and young bees are grabbed onto 
quickly. They do smell different, so the Crisco masks the smell and the 
mite cannot tell one from another so just sits there and eventually dies.

It is still one of the most serendipitous discoveries that led to a 
cheap and effective solution to the TM problem. If I recall correctly, 
when the mite was being investigated in the lab, it was difficult to 
confine them to a petri dish, so some oil or grease was spread on the 
lip. It actually repelled the mite and the rest is history.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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