>worker cell size is uniform
>and averages 5.2 mm in width.
>
>Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

I already addressed this question. Of course the cell size varies. The
question is: how much? Seeley and Morse do not say, so I am assuming that
they didn't consider the variation to be significant, or they would have
included the deviation,-- just as they did in describing the thickness of
the brood comb. 

It boils down to *significant* differences. Plus or minus .1 mm would be
significant; .01 mm really wouldn't. Eva Crane lists the size for European
A. mellifera at 5.1 to 5.5 (a deviation of .2mm); Taber and Owens (1970)
observed 5.3mm in the USA; Eva Crane lists the size of scutellata at 4.7 to
4.9 (average 4.8mm)

Pete
 

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