From: Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>

> She goes down into to cell, lets say to nurse a larva.
> Checks the orientation, goes to the cell opposite, checks it, memorizes its
> orientation, goes back to the other, compares the two, and decides if it's
> right or not. If not, the whole hive breaks down.

Where do you get this idea from? We have to assume you did not read the
report. I do not agree with all of Dee's 7 ramification theories surrounding
the positions of comb, but a very good argument can be made for bees
building comb in such an order that suits them best and with a purpose. No
mention of total hive break down in the report.

"By resequencing our combs to match wild comb positioning, final internal
colony problems relative to our honeybees drawing-out of foundation and how
the bees work the combs, appear to be lessening or stopping altogether. Much
stress seems to have been eliminated."


> Get serious. I doubt that our poor bee could ever get back to the same exact
> cell if she wanted to! They're not marked, you know -- and it's pitch black
> in there!! But there is no reason to suppose that this bee even cares about
> the angle of the vertices in the bottom of the cell! There is no evidence
> that she has the ability to sense such a distinction.
>
> If you have a hypothesis you have to spend a little time backing it up! Von
> Frisch spent years determining which colors bees can see and which they can
> not.

Well, if it's pitch black in a hive and the bees can't see or find a
particular cell, hum .... I guess we can safely throw out Von Frisch's
hypothesis about the dance giving some sort of direction to a source due to
an angle within the dance as the bees can't see the dancing bee anyway. They
can find a flower a couple miles away through an interpretive dance but not
a cell within their hive. Interesting.

> The honey bee is one of the most adaptable creatures on the planet. They
> will put honey into little plastic rings, if you want! They will work
> normally behind glass, with bright lights shining on them. None of this
> seems to stop them from doing what they have done for eons. And we are to
> believe that if the angles in the bottom of the cell are wrong, it's some
> sort of catastrophe?

There you go using words and ideas that were never suggested. Perhaps if the
combs were in such an order that the bees built them, they would bring you
in an extra 5 pounds of honey or raise more brood or who knows what. Maybe
even nothing. Do you know the ramifications? Prove it.

Regards,
Barry