This study, using caged bees, showed they survived longest on a diet of pure sucrose. Pollen is the natural source of protein for bees and is essential not only during the larval stages but also for gland and ovarian activation. In spite of this, the survival of young worker honeybees was negatively correlated with the protein level in their diet. Survival was significantly higher on the pure sucrose diet compared to the pollen ones and they performed significantly better on pure casein compared to the 3:1 or 1:1 pollen diet. Of the three protein sources tested, casein was most beneficial to the bees with respect to survival. This nutritional advantage was observed on all P:C ratios. Casein is not part of the natural diet of honeybees but this purified protein powder is commonly used in nutritional studies on a variety of animals. The importance of protein type and protein to carbohydrate ratio for survival and ovarian activation of caged honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata)* Christian W.W. Pirk*, Chiraag Boodhoo, Hannelie Human, Susan W. Nicolson Apidologie 41 (2010) 62–72 *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm