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SummaryAs a possible way to help control varroa mites, some beekeepers advocate the use of cells smaller than the regular size commonly used by beekeepers. This paper addresses two of their principal arguments, namely that honey bees built smaller cells under natural conditions in the past, and that a “fatal” error occurred at the turn of the 20th century when a new and allegedly misleading method of estimating cell density was introduced. Historical data show not only that cell sizes were not smaller in the past, but also that estimating cell densities was not an issue before the introduction of wax foundation. Moreover, not realizing that the two methods of estimating cell densities are equivalent, the proponents of small cells have erroneously corrected the data reported by the authors of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In conclusion, the claim that cells were smaller in the past is not only not supported by the historical records, but rests on a distortion of the historical records resulting from a...

regulatory effects was obscured by linear and nonlinear trends in one and two cases, respectively. The data support the hypothesis that time-delayed and nonlinear mechanisms of population regulation oper- ate in fossorial populations of A. terrestris. Furthermore, the data are consistent with regulatory mechanisms involving predator-prey interactions, while the causation of the unusually long cycle is still an open question. Finally, the presence of trends in these time series suggests that water vole populations track some long-term climatic changes in the environment.

When hoarding food under IR light, the golden hamster returns to its nest by path integration after an active outward journey, and it is capable of compensating the angular component of a passive outward journey independently of auditory, olfactory, tactile and geomagnetic cues. If, however, peripheral visual cues are available, they predominate over information which is gained during the active or passive outward journey. Further experiments show the limitations of homing by path integration, which is open to cumulative errors and therefore needs to be complemented by other categories of information.