Hi, all.



I shall briefly respond to several additional posts re “suicide bees”.



I already raised the possibility that “suicide bees” might be attracted to the nozzle of a lit, even idle smoker, because of the physical property of the smoke (motion), or the chemical properties of the burning fuel. (A combination if both is of course also possible.) Some readers suggested earlier that such bees fly into the nozzle because of the visual properties of the opening, as a dark spot that presumably attracts them, or as an object resembling a human eye, which presumably attracts them. I am not inclined to accept this possibility, among others for reasons based on my own experience, which (contrary Dave Cushman) is quite relevant to this issue specific issue. (Incidentally, I never suggested that human eyes are visually identical with just any dark spot of similar size.) Nor am I inclined to accept the idea that heat is a factor involved in attracting “suicide bees”. (I explained why in an earlier message.) A recent post by Truesdell (sorry I misspelled his name in an
 earlier message) seems to support the involvement of chemical factors. In fact, he believes that it is specifically the carbon dioxide emitted by the lit smoker that attracts “suicide bees”, though only following a disturbance. (His evidence shows this to be quite possible). His evidence also suffices to exclude the idea that those bees are specifically attracted to dark spots that might resemble a human eye. (They were attracted even to the much large opening of an uncapped lit smoker.)



I find the issue of what causes “suicide bees” to enter a lit smoker through the opening of the nozzle pretty interesting, and the problem of what causes them to respond to the stimuli to which they respond even more interesting (if we only knew with certainty what these stimuli are).







Sincerely,

Ruth Rosin ("prickly pear")

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