> What surprises me and what I would 
> like to see is not sublethal doses and
> what they do but how bees in Lu's 
> studies survived well above lethal doses
> over a sustained period of time. 

This puzzled me for a bit too, but the reason is simple - Lu fed only 1/2
gallon of poisoned syrup to each of several full-sized colonies, and made
the assumption that (somehow) the feed would be equally consumed by all
bees.  Look at his calculation of dose, dividing by 50,000 bees.

As nectar was coming in the door, and during dearths, stored food would be
used, some bees clearly had none of the poisoned syrup.  This is why the
hives survived for so long.

The conclusion is that the feed was fatal for many of the bees who partook,
but not enough was fed to kill the hives outright.  It also follows that
"dose per bee" is impossible to gauge by this method, and Lu had no idea
what the dose was.  It also follows that which hives lived or died was a
random factor.

Lu's approach is like expecting one bar in Brooklyn to get all of NYC drunk.

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