I am a hobby beekeeper and do not have the resources to do all the testing that you ask. Also I may not have been clear. But I will try to answer your questions. "First, how do we know bees "fan" to reduce the "irritant" oils, as opposed to fanning to eliminate moisture (evaporating nector), or heat on a 95 F. June day?" My observation is that if you smoke a hive bees buzz. So instead of calling it "fanning" call it buzzing. In any case, they are doing what I theorize causes the mites to die, which is heat their bodies by wing movement. I am not sure what your comment on brood box temperature has to do with my theory since I am talking about the *individual* bee infected with tracheal mites. Bees do "shiver" in winter to maintain cluster warmth, which is more in keeping with what I am talking about. As far as measured temperatures, the Japanese did measure the temperatures generated by the bees killing giant hornets and it was in excess of 120F. I do not know the temperature that kills mites, but one control used in Russia is to heat the hive to knock down varroa (and some bees too), so my guess is tracheal mites are probably susceptable to temperatures lower than that which would kill the bee. I'm not sure what your comments on vegetable oil are in relation to bees "buzzing" to kill mites. I use crisco as a mite control. As far as the fever comparison to humans- it was only to show, as you stated, that the host seems to be able to stand higher temperatures than the infecting organism. I did not imply that the bee generated the heat to kill the mite. It was more a cause (smoke, vapors or whatever) resulting in the bee "buzzing" and generating heat in its body to kill or damage the internal mite. Anyway. This was just something a couple of us were kicking around. It was not meant to be the "Universal Theory of Mite Control". I would guess that like most things we use without knowing the "why" of how it works, heat generated by the bee may be a part (or not) of the mite control equation. All the comments I have seen in this forum about mint and menthol point to it possibly being a miticide. But proof? I have not seen any. And I have not seen anything in the literature on why Menthol works. But lots of it is sold. My "theory" is just a little mind candy to while away a cold Maine winter. Regards, Bill T.