John,
You may be referring to "The Wisdom of the Hive" by Thomas D. Seeley. He is
a professor of biology at Cornell. The book is published by Harvard
University Press, copyright 1995. I am just starting it and it is slow
going, as is highly technical, not an easy read. I'd be glad to provide a
review when I'm finished.  I am a novice beekeeper and writer, enjoying the
learning process. This season I'm boning up on bee lore, with a goal of
eventually writing about my experience as a bumbling (pardon the pun)
assistant to my tiny sweet-toothed friends.
 
Marcia Sinclair
 
 
 
At 08:56 AM 6/11/96 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
>Can anyone provide information regarding a book that was published a couple
>of years ago out of Cornell University that made the argument that the hive
>can be seen as an autonomous being - a "superorganism". The idea being that
>a hive expresses all the same characteristics as a normal organism might. I
>saw one of the authors give a talk a few years back on the subject and have
>yet to see or hear of the book. Has anyone got any information they could
share?
>
>Cheers John Volpe
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>John Volpe
>Marine and Aquatic Sciences Section
>Centre for Environmental Health
>University of Victoria
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>
>