Hi Jerry

> So, a study that says novice bees fly straight lines
> from the hives (again, I'm NOT objecting to a Riley
> study here), turn, and come back -- is just what one
> would expect of such a burdened bees.

If you haven't had a look at the study recently, have a look at the paper at
the link which Jim told us about a few days ago:
http://www.honeybee.neurobiologie.fu-berlin.de/column/publications.html
It is paper no. 21.

Why am I back harping on about this study again when you are not objecting
to it?  Well, the only feasible way of explaining away their results (apart
from gross negligence or fraud) is if the transponders caused the bees to
fly on a compass bearing of about 90 degrees.  There is no reason, as far as
I can tell, why such interference should make them do that.

Is there *any* study that says they fly out, burdened, turn and try to come
back?  The Riley figure is very clear.  The bees are flying away from the
hive, then at the approximate hive-to-feeder distance their flights become
more erratic.  The only bees which have a consistent turn (through up to 90
degrees only) are some of those which were displaced SW, and these bees
turned towards the hive as they approached it and met familiar territory.
They would not have expected to see the hive there as they were taken some
distance away in opaque tubes.  It seems fairly clear that the bees in the
Riley study are not flying out, turning, and coming back again.  Their
flight patterns are exactly what you would expect from novice bees knowing
which bearing to fly on and how far.

Granted, that telegraph pole might slow them down somewhat and perhaps
curtail any 'searching' flight patterns at the end of the flight, but what
we're talking about here is just whether or not that study shows the bees
using the information in the waggle dance.  I'd have thought that it is
clear that it does (not forgetting that, in normal circumstances, it would
be part of a package of possible cues including odour).

all the best

Gavin.

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