Hi all Ruth Said... > honeybees are not attracted to just any black spot (like eyes) An eye is not 'just a black spot', it has a glazed, almost spherical surface. I am not one of those that has observed bees diving into to the nozzle of a smoker. The two smokers that I use most often, have black plastic knobs which have a domed central portion to their top. the material is shiny and the curvature of the surface is similar to that of a human eyeball. I have seen individual bees fly at (and bounce off) the smokers, but I cannot say that the knob has received any special attention. However if a bee was in the process of 'mobbing' the smoker (for whatever reason perceived by the bee) and it happened to enter the spout, it would not 'bounce off' and will probabaly perish in the process. This is far different to the behaviour of bees that appear to be attracted to human eyes... The bees remain at a distance from the face and tend to 'keep station' if the human moves. There is usually only one bee exhibiting this behaviour. This is different again from the 'head butting' where many bees bump into a beekeeper's veil. While this has the appearance of 'attacking', most of the bees merely fly at, and hit the person, only a small number will actually sting. > As for personal experience, I do have experience in beekeeping, I am aware of that, but I should have included the words recent or relevent... helping a family member fifty years ago is 'experience in beekeeping', but is not relevent experience for a beekeeping researcher that is pontificating on a matter that depends on observation. Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY Beekeeping and Bee Breeding Website http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::