Hi to all on BEE-L Dave wrote: >IT DOES NOT MEAN... That the cellsize is a fundemental quantity that >conclusions can be drawn >from. Peter Borst Replied: I don't see how you got here. It is well know that the size of the cell is correlated to the size of the bee. Apis cerana is a small honey bee and makes small cells (range=3.6 to 4.9, Crane 1990). They require smaller cell foundation than European Apis mellifera (range=5.1 to 5.5, Crane 1990). Reply: I would like to add a little here. F. Ruttner in his paper "Characteristics and variability of Apis Cerana" pointed out that "Contrary to the customary assumption, A. cerana is not generally a small bee when compared with A. mellifera. This frequently held opinion holds true only when A. cerana is compared with European A. mellifera." Now this is a comparison of a feral sized naturally occuring type of honeybee (A. cerana) to an artificialized oversized domesticated genericaly run together name representing all races/strains of European honeybees in my POV. This POV of mine is taken from T.W. Cowans's 1904 "The Honey Bee: Its Natural History, Anatomy, and Physiology" Chapter XXIV, in which it is written that Cowan measured the natural combs of honeybees in England, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and the United States showing a range that does indeed very well encompass A. cerana measurements. Also for more measurements along the same vein of thought Cowan suggests readers to read: Bevan, Dr E. "The Honey Bee, 1838, and F. Huber, Nouvelles observations sur les Abeilles, 1814 (and other editions). Maybe this will help you see better Daves remarks, which I myself have found quite "good". Regards, Dee A. Lusby __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com