(Sorry this is a little late getting into the stream.  I hit reply and
accidentally sent it direct to Olda.  I guess that is a reminder to check
headers before sending email.  BEE-L gets sent personal email sometimes and I
guess, just as often an intended reply to the whole list gets sent to only one
person.  Just because a post never appears on the list does not mean that the
moderators rejected it.  Maybe it was sent to someone else.  If your BEE-L post
does not show up in a reasonable time, check to see where you sent it. Anyhow,
here is my post):
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> Take a look at:  http://www.algonet.se/~beeman/
> (>Research>Varroa>Cellsize)
> you can find there: "A study made by Mia Davidsson in 1992 at the
> Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as an examination
> paper."

Thanks.  I had a bit of trouble, but finally got to
http://www.algonet.se/~beeman/research/cell.htm

Referring to the conversion chart at
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Misc/CellCount.htm it appears that the study
used cells from about 6mm down to a little above 5mm.  The study did not,
apparently, quite get down to the 4.9 size being discussed.

Nonetheless, some might expect that there would be some trend visible over the
range studied and that the effect sought might begin to appear around 5mm.

The only other explanation, assuming the study is accurate, would be that the
anti-varroa effect cuts in suddenly at 4.9, but is not at all in evidence at
sizes only slightly larger.  I am sceptical, but this would not be entirely
improbable.  I would say this study does not conclusively prove that small cell
size effects might not have been observed if the study had included samples that
went as small as 962 or even 1000 cells per square decimeter.

Another problem too is that there are many other factors that are not examined.
The strain of bee, the climate, the strain of varroa, the time of year, and many
more things that are hard to control make this subject difficult to pin down.

allen

http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/
---
I was reading the dictionary.  I thought it was a poem about everything.
        -- Steven Wright