Jim said: "Chill down one set of bees, remove antennas with a very tiny pair of wire cutters, and attach those little numbered tags to each bee. (Disgusting and cruel, but so is letting a colony die as a "control" in a varroa study. " This is horrible - and being less horrible than another crime is no defence. (I can strangle my wife, can I, because burning her to death would be worse?). To the onlooker, like me, it seems strange that definitive expweriements have not been carried out, using just an observation hive, a feeding station with two bowls of identical sugar syrup except one is 'pure' and the other has an added ordor, and a thin wire cage just big enough for a returning forager to be imprisoned but able to run up and down (with a turning chamber at each end) but not waggle. Would that not be enough for every combination of odor/ no odor/ waggle / no waggle / up wind / down wind/ to be tested? Could someone just remind us - briefly and succintly - just what the problem is that makes this particular observation of bee behaviour so intensely difficult? (Not the arguments again - just why in principle it is apparently so difficult to resolve). Robin Dartington :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::