Re. Cape bees in Europe. I have just read the two items which have appeared regarding Cape bees in Europe, and feel moved to respond to them, as I feel the tone perhaps to be a little over-alarmist. I can well understand people feeling threatened by this in the light of the South African experience, but drawing precise conclusions from that for other areas may be invalid. I do agree that, because of the well publicised problems it causes in South Africa, it should definitely not be taken out of its environment and experimented with, particularly in areas to which it might be climatically suited. However, the bee may have some genetic factor which is of use in the varroa resistance field which does merit further research, although it should probably be done within the bees native range. However, in the early years of this century, when bee people were unaware of these kind of problems, almost any kind of bee you can think of that was known at the time was experimented with in Europe. I have read (I cannot recall where) that this bee was tried in Britain during the inter-war years (20's I think) and found to be unsuccessful. No residual problem of Cape bees is known to be found here and, because of climate, any true Cape colony would die first winter. I cannot imagine that, with the possible exception of the Mediterranean/Iberian areas with very mild winters, the climate has changed so much that the bee could now establish itself widely in Europe. (The importation of exotic races of bees to Europe and the UK for breeding and research has continued until relatively recently. Brother Adam's work with bees from Crete and East Africa in the 1980's is well documented, but I am sure he would not have been alone) In the first of the two articles it appears to assume that because of the presence of a laying Cape worker in a European colony that any queen raised the following year WILL be pure Cape. I don't know enough about the South African situation to know if this is the case, and would appreciate clarification as to whether that is definitely so, but it seems to me that the percentage risk of the new queen being Cape would only be broadly in proportion to the number of eggs the queen and laying worker were producing, and even then only in an emergency cell situation (which includes deliberate grafting), although, in the presence of a laying worker it would be difficult to get these cells drawn. I don't know if the laying worker ever deliberately lays in swarm cells or not. If only a small proportion of these colonies went on to produce Cape queens AND remain genetically pure (incidentally, what will they mate with?), then the total impact here would quickly stabilise with slightly increased winter losses. If ALL do then we definitely will have a problem. However, a diploid egg from a worker must surely be effectively a clone of that worker, and thus be the product of both the original Cape queen and whatever drone was responsible for fertilising the egg which went on to produce the laying worker, and thus, if matings are with European drones, the bees will become genetically more and more dilute with each passing generation. The absence of difficulties with Cape bees in the UK today tends to make me believe that natural selection would eliminate the problem. Obviously the first article is from a source which knows a great deal more about the Cape bee than I ever will and is talking from a position both of knowledge and experience, but I feel that calm reflection on a percieved problem is probably more appropriate than starting a scare which may be the unintentional result of posting the item. I would suggest seeking further in formation from some of the members of Apinet who may know about this experiment and whether it exists or is merely an apocryphal tale. Please do not interpret this as any kind of criticism. It is not. It is just my point of view on this item and, I hope, a reasoned contribution. Murray McGregor -- Murray McGregor, Denrosa Ltd. Coupar Angus, Scotland e.mail:- [log in to unmask]