Thank you very much Pankaj ji, for the interesting info. I had seen one film. In the lab they made a spider drunk and then the spider started making a cobweb. It was nothing like a normal symetrical cobweb. But the spider "was made drunk", and I was just curious to know if the insects (of all sorts) can distinguish between normal and fermented sap. If they like fermented sap like the human beings like bear or wine or whatever. I know, I don't normaly drink alkohol, but when I come back from jogging, especially in summer, a glas of bear does good to me. Do insects too like alkohol under certain conditions? OK, I know this question is not about plants and flowers, but group members do all sorts of observation, so I put my query here. People, please excuse me if I am breaking the rules! Regards Nalini
----- Original Message ----- From: Pankaj Oudhia To: efloraofindia Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 8:18 PM Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:43535] bumble bee rehabilitation Nalini ji, I posted your query to Entomo-L list. I have received one response so far. Please see the message pasted below. ----- Many years ago I watched various bees, wasps, and butterflies congregating on a sand pine (Pinus clausa). The butterflies in particular would perch on foliage and then then drop as if dead to the ground. A few minutes later they'd flutter back to their perch and do it again. In the spring, sand pines are known to heavily produce volatiles and I couldn't help but think that the butterflies were getting drunk on the compounds. ---- Michael C. Thomas, Ph.D. Florida State Collection of Arthropods Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services P.O. Box 147100 Gainesville, FL 32614-7100 352-372-3505 ext 187 [email protected] -------- regards Pankaj Oudhia On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 4:40 PM, nabha meghani <[email protected]> wrote: I think now I have enough evidence that bumble bee is not just a robber. Here it is working hard transporting loads of pollens from one flower to other. Here I take the opportunity to show the various color varieties of Stockrose (Ger.) Hollyhock (Engl.) Alcea rosea (sci) from my garden in Ritterhude. Fotos taken in june 2010. I have in my garden, a Schlaraffenland (Cockaigne?) for the bees where food and drink is plentiful. Btw. I wonder, has anyone seen or read, that bees, butterflies etc prefer to drink fermented fruit sap, nectar rather than normal sap, and if they get drunk afterwards? I have read that in laboratories experiments are carried out to this respect. But in nature, does any insect get drunk? In my garden I have seen many bees drinking sap of fallen mirabelles, but havn't seen drunken bees so far. Regards Nalini
