> Further to Allen Dick's comment about bees working dark Ross > Rounds better than white: > > 1) To clarify, Allen: The dark parts you refer to: This is the > outer structure that guides the bees to finish the combs > consistently at the same thickness, right? The foundation, and > even the plastic rings in contact with the foundation, are the > same in each case (plain wax and clear plastic, respectively). > <etc.> Correct. Actually the rings which surround the section and form sides of the retail container are somewhere between clear and a cloudy white. Immediately behind them is the solid frame that supports all, and can be white or chocolate brown. > I wonder, what is the physics behind the bees' recognition of > these colours in the "dark". Perhaps one of our members familiar > with heat conduction, radiation etc can tell us. <etc.> That's what I want to know. Maybe they can detect absorption and reflection of the infra red spectrum (which we experience as 'heat'). We can - crudely - but our perceptions are using our skin which lacks directional resolution and imaging capability. Can bees detect an amount of their own heat returned from objects and use it in an analagous way to how 'visible light' is used by us and bees - to 'see'? And, if so, can they resolve these reflections into useful images - somewhat as we do with the visible light spectrum? Do they have an 'eye' that sees at these frequencies? As I recall, their vision does not have any focusing ability, and yet they are able to use the mosaic images they receive to navigate better than many persons. Perhaps there are areas either the bee eye itself, or cells on the body, or even on the antennae that are able to generate output similar - using infra red (heat) - to what the bee eyes do using what we regard as visible light - and provide sufficient information to allow the bees to 'see' in their home. If so they *can* 'see' in the darkness of the hive, because to them it is not dark, but lighted by their own bodies and the internal radiation from the hive boxes when heated by the sun or ambient air. If we were to establish that were true, then the question is: are transparent plastic boxes transparent to infra red? If the plastic is transparent at infra red frequencies, then the bees can indeed 'see' the amount of space in the next box as clearly as if there were no divider. I've always wondered that they would have evolved to live strictly by feel and scent inside a dark hive and be able to accomplish what they do. > One thing the pannel could not comment on: is there a difference > in bees winter success on plastic vs wax foundation (everyone on > the panel wintered their bees in the warm south). There was a > comment about plastic not conducting heat as well as wax (meant > as a criticism of plastic, though it seems it should be an > advantage) but no one had a strong opinion. What has been your > experience, Allen, Jean-Pierre? I haven't any observations, *but* I was planning to buy 10,000 Pierco frames and strangely enough, was going to have them made in dark brown simply because I hate the look of white frames! (Old beekeeper's Instinct? They will colour them to taste (no charge) if you order 10,000 or more. I have been having misgivings because I was wondering about the appearance to me of white comb on dark foundation. Glad you dropped by with your comments. I don't know what I think of green.