On Nov 21, 2005, at 6:24 AM, Bill Truesdell wrote (altered somewhat): > Creates the obvious question- if back country bees are so isolated > would they not also be > isolated from Varroa? Or have they been tested for Varroa? Honey bees essentially disappeared from Santa Barbara in the early 1990s, with a couple of notable exceptions ( see: http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/abjsep1999.htm ). The same happened in the back country, according to two of my beekeeper friends who have traversed deep into that country. Adrian -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---