Hi all I reply to Robert Brenchley's post of August 29, 2000 9:30 AM<[log in to unmask]> The circumstances that Wedmore referred to was in a population of bees that had already been artificially enlarged so that they would have longer tongues. There was a widely held opinion that such bees could gather more honey. I now believe that smaller bees are more efficient. These are not really smaller they are just the same size as they were 100 years ago. Thus the smaller faster bee is capable of gathering more honey due to shorter flying times and longer working lives. There are overwintering advantages in the more compact brood nest and if there is a better resistance to varroa and acarine mite then all these features seem to point to better and easier beekeeping by re-establishing the bees at the size they were before we altered them. Best Regards, Dave Cushman G8MZY Email: [log in to unmask] Website...Beekeeping and Bee Breeding http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman