Jim Moore replied to the following comment:
 
>>>We have had bees moving back and forth in that pattern and were told
>>>that it is a random act called "washboarding."
 
   as follows:
 
>As a programmer I always consider that it is some "logic" that is
>instictively being "executed" on the bees part. I assume it is young bees
>who are supposed to be cleaning cells but due to nectar in the cells or a
>hot hive they move outside and execute the behavior anyway.
 
   Bees coat all surfaces in a cavity and near the entrance with a thin
coat of propolis.  In our work on Santa Cruz Island we sometimes spotted
the entrance of a colony for which we were searching in a rock face by
seeing the round patch of brown coating near the opening, extending a few
inches out from the opening.  We could see bees engaged in that same
behavior on this surface.
 
   Justin Schmidt and Steve Buchmann wrote the following on p. 944 in the
1992 issue of THE HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE:
 
   "Although not well investigated, its use as a varnish around colony
areas of contact with the external environment (Figure 6) probably serves
mainly in defense against ants.  This is accomplished both by making the
surface slippery, thereby enabling the bees to blow off invading ants...
and by acting as a surface masking agent... etc."
 
   In their Figure 6 they show, (A) "Bees adjacent to a comb actively
planing a propolized area," and (B) "...Planing bees adopt a typical head
down pose and actively'brush' the surface with their front legs while
slowly moving backwards."
 
                                                Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                         (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office)
Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology           (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara           (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
***********************************************************************
*  "Discovery is to see what everyone else has seen,                  *
*         but to think what no one else has thought."                 *
*                                       ---    Albert Szent-Gyorgyi   *
***********************************************************************