The 2 sides seem firmly arrayed along the lines of "odour theory" and "language theory". I would have thought that both would have been possible in a complementary way. The language theory to get the bees to roughly the right area and the odour theory to allow the bees to home in on the specific food source. Whilst it might seem a little exotic that an insect the size of a bee could contain the capability for language, we should certainly not doubt Mother Nature's ingenuity. Whilst copper bottomed proof for a bee language (in the sense normally understood -mapping,distance etc), may not yet have been obtained, this should not stop investigation -as in all scientific investigation the possibilities improve with the sensitivity of the instrumentation. The "mapping" language theory certainly fulfills certain "desireable features" -location of food sources upwind for instance but of course desireability does not make it so. I would have thought that a rather awkward fact for the odour theorists however, is that bees "dance" in a quite specific way - if they only had to spread the odour message, a severe , simple vibration would seem more efficient If the bees are communicating by odour messages, that could also of course be construed as language. Finally as a practical (very small scale) beekeeper I am thankful that Mother Nature has provided the bees with an efficient way of locating their food source, the exact method is of rather secondary importance, but of course of great interest. Alan Riach Edinburgh Scotland :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::