I will be brief here in thoughts as I try to keep working and doing things to keep mind in control as I sort tings out. But reading though...in doing mite drops, and I don't see this take on it brought up to often in counting for accuracy, you must be careful,...so as not to scew results! for there are perhaps 3-4,probably 4 if I remember correctly different categories of mites in a given beehive, and I am not talking different categories of varroa. I mean different beneficial and other mites in a beehive that have always been there, that would IMPOV drop to the bottom of hives and could be construed counted in varroa mite counts by inexperienced personnel doing tests/counts. Or they could be mites normally living on bottom boards that would end up in the debree anyways. Also color would vary from sort of whiteish to the deeper browns so so might think immature and adult and actually they just lighter color and not immature varroa. Perhaps you should talk about distinguishing different types of mites by category found in a beehive as when old and dropping down just like varroa they could be confused. But just a thought here....... Dr Needham comes to mind here in my thoughts for maybe wanting to consult. Respectfully submitted, Dee A. Lusby Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper Moyza, Arizona http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ We have the perfect Group for you. Check out the handy changes to Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com) -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---