Lloyd wrote:

"Roger Morris, formerly chief honcho for beekeeping at Cornell,
maintained that no larvae, eggs, or adults could survive over the
winter in an unheated area in Ithaca, NY.  Ithaca winters are
considerably warmer than here.  Roger maintained that all wax moths in
Ithaca came north in the summer.  Either by natural means or, more
likely, by migratory beekeepers.  Roger did not make statements
likely, so I presume he has good basis for these statements, but I
have always doubted them."

* * *

The preceding statement has a fair number of errors, which I would like to
correct. I offer a brief summary of Roger's life. Roger was loved and
respected by beekeepers the world over, and the names of the people who
studied at his lab read like a Who's Who of U.S. Beekeeping.

By the way, it only takes a few hours of below freezing temperature to kill
moths and their eggs. Ithaca has months of that, so combs in unheated
buildings are cured of infestation rather soon after winter starts. They
overwinter in the bee hives, taking up to six months to mature from the
eggs. Wax moths have been living with bees for probably millions of years.
See _Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Diseases_, edited by Roger Morse.

* * *

Roger Morse, University of Cornell apiculturist and educator, spent the
majority of his academic career at Cornell university actively campaigning
for the advancement of beekeeping.  He had a unique gift of communicating
the science of entomology to the often harried and hard working beekeepers
who had little time to read through technical treatises for the practical
solutions they needed.

A prolific writer, Morse wrote many texts such as _The Complete Guide to
Beekeeping_, considered a definitive book on the subject.  He also wrote
_The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Beekeeping_ with T. Hooper, _The ABC and
XYZ of Bee Culture (40th edition) with Kim Flottun, _A Year in the Beeyard_,
_Bees and  Beekeeping_, and _Making Mead_, among others, and was a regular
contributor to the journal _Bee Culture_ for over 50 years.

He entered the graduate school at Cornell in the fall of 1950 and was
assistant in apiculture to professor E. J. Dyce, receiving  his masters
degree in 1953 and his doctorate in 1955.  Morse was also a visiting
professor at many universities overseas, chaired the entomology department
at Cornell from 1986 to 1989, and made many trips to countries such as
Africa, South America and the Philippines, teaching beekeepers ways of
improving their methods.

The Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Research, was named after Professor Elton
J. Dyce who headed Cornell’s honey bee program from 1947-1966. Professor
Dyce is best known for his research on the properties of honey and his
patented method for producing creamed honey. The Dyce Method is used by
commercial and hobbyists producers of creamed honey throughout the world.
Construction of the bee lab was funded from patent royalties and a
contribution from the United States Department of Agriculture. The lab
opened in 1968 under the direction of Professor Roger A. Morse who headed
Cornell’s honey bee program from 1966 until his retirement in 1996.

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