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Dear Bee-Liners:
                At the risk of resurrecting a myth, I must comment that
in my youth I was always taught that the POLARIZATION of light in the sky
was a major factor in enabling honeybees to navigate.  Yet in the
discussion of wavelengths, etc. etc., I haven't noticed that polarization
has been mentioned . . . is this because it is no longer thought to be
important?
  On the subject of Scilla siberica (I always used to spell it "Scylla",
to rhyme with Charybdis, but it is pleasant to be corrected), somebody
asked whether this plant (which, by the way, is just the Siberian Squill,
and not Grape Hyacinth, Henbit, the English Bluebell, or even Jewelweed!)
is an important bee-plant of the early spring.  Yes, indeed: in Toronto,
the first bumblebees of the spring are usually to be found on
Scilla--and yes, it DOES produce blue pollen and is almost certainly the
source of Ed Southwick's query . . .
  As I write this, Scilla is in full bloom here in the "Nation's Capital"
(Ottawa), and we have already seen Bombus bimaculatus and B. terricola
foraging on them--as well as some honeybees.
  Best regards, Chris Plowright.
 
--
Chris Plowright - via the University of Ottawa
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