Hello Barry & All,

> < Because even in queen-right  colonies of the Cape honey bee the workers
> <often develop functional  ovaries, it  must be assumed that there is
> insufficient <queen  substance to suppress this in normal sized colonies.

 In researching the above I found a supporting  view by Anderson(1961)
quote:
 "The Cape bee is distinctly different different from all races of honey
bees
 BECAUSE of the presence of large numbers of ovarioles in the ovaries of
 worker bees and well developed spermatheca."
 Anderson seems to indicate all capensis workers have got large numbers of
 ovarioles and well developed spermatheca. Why? Are the capensis larva
 treated differently or the lack of pheromones as Butler suggests?
 Different researchers have been able to take mellifera and produce
Thelytoky
 in experiments.  None as successful as with capensis.   Anderson seems to
me to  indicate what exactly makes the large numbers of ovarioles and well
 developed spermatheca is unknown.   Barry's theory of lack of strong
 pheromones  is based on *Butler's* hypothesis BUT  one thing I have learned
from this exchange of information is in Barry's own words "Capensis has very
strong pheromones (even the workers).   So strong they cause the scuts to
ball  their own queen.    I have never looked so close at capensis before
now.  I have tried to quote  Anderson because I believe Barry is very
familier with Anderson's work.  I  put forth the hypothesis early on in the
discussion possibly the workers had  mated with drones when normal queens
were raised from capensis worker eggs.   I believe Anderson suspected the
same thing when he looked at capensis .
 Quote from Anderson in 1961:
 "However , a spermatheca of a capensis worker bee was never found to be
 filled with spermatozoa" I believe he felt compeled to check as I would
 have. Eliminate the simple answer.
 You said capensis and the scuts were not similar  but according to research
 I have looked at they are similar in many ways.   In fact in the research I
 have done for this post the most alike of the African races.
 DuPraw (1965) quote:
 "A.m. scutellata has common features with Apis mellifera capensis
 From page 36 *Hive and the Honey Bee* quote:
 "DuPraw, according to Ruttner was unable to DELIMIT Adansonii from capensis
on the basis of wing characters".
If I am understanding correctly behavior and color are the two main ways you
determine if a feral swarm is  scutellata or capensis?  Both are considered
unreliable by researchers in the U.S..I wonder what the color combination is
of the AHB in the U.S.. I have asked now three times with not one response
back.  Surely our researchers are looking at the sample when doing wing
venation and the other tests.  According to our U.S. researchers the
aggressive nature of scuts is always (or almost always) passed on . Doesn't
sound from your post the aggressive nature of scuts is passed to capensis
when a capensis queen mates with a scutellata drone. Amazing to me both
races seem able to maintain almost pure lines in a area of heavy population
of both races.
 Sincerely,
 Bob Harrison
 Odessa, Missouri