--- Isis Glass <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > The fact that they can somehow bring other bees to > dishes with sugar syrup > *seems to point toward* some type of communication, > other than odor. Hello, I'm not Dr. Wenner, but as far as I’ve been able to research, it still points to odor. I checked out the MSDS for sugar (sucrose) http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s7394.htm First,,, disclaimer: MSDS, states in section 2 that sucrose is hazardous, so please be careful when working with this substance. I must inform for liability reasons, when working with hazardous materials such as sucrose, that goggles, lab coat and gloves should be worn as stated in section 3 of the MSDS for sucrose. Section 9 states that sucrose does have an odor: "9. Physical and Chemical Properties Appearance: Monoclinic sphenoidal crystals. Odor: Characteristic caramel." I'm not sure, is there any thing bees would forage that they can't detect an odor from, or that there is even an odorless substance that would be attractable to bees? ,,,except maybe water, which I imagine would still have some type of trace odor. On a related matter. Check out these 4 videos of a bee searching out 24 different odors to find the one of which was rewarded: Bees flying in front of the artificial meadow & Computer tracking of bee flights: http://galizia.ucr.edu/data_mov/content/flighttrack.html (the videos came from this page) "Examples of optical recording data from the insect olfactory system" http://galizia.ucr.edu/data_mov/content/ Best Wishes, Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA ‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' My Site: http://www.biologicalbeekeeping.com Organic Bee Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/ Feral Bee Project: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/ __________________________________________ Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less. dsl.yahoo.com -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---