The store of the reporter got to NZ yesterday.  NZ Herald section 1, page 9:
"A television reporter's hair gel attracted a swarm of bees that stung
him more than 30 times on the scalp and face in Kennewick, Washington.
Mychal Limric, aged 24, was doing a story on beekeeping when bees from a
hive about 15m away suddenly descended on his head."
 
It seems to me there may be two related (in the sense that they are both
smells...) to the discussions thus far:
 
(1) Alarm pheromone similarities.  All of the discussions on chemically
similar materials makes good sense to me.  I would not expect the bee's
pheromonal expectations to have a super narrow range of interpretation -
if something gets close, it is probably enough to cause the expected
behaviour.
 
(2) 'Sweet smelling' or 'fruity smelling' materials.  I don't recall references
to much of this in serious bee science, but anecdotal is common.  Even from
me!  I spent much of my childhood with the nickname of 'Jet' in reference to the
speed of my exit from the back garden where the beehives were, after venturing
too close while wearing 'Wild Roses' (?), 'Four Roses' (?) or some such hair
oil compound favoured by old fashioned barbers in the 1950s.  But wait, that too
was probably heavily alcohol based, so rather than the sweet response, it
too may
have been alarm pheromone related.
 
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Nick Wallingford, President
National Beekeepers Assn of NZ
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