<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I sent this earlier today but it never went thru. Trying again. s<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> spike [mailto:spike66@att.net] <br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, January 01, 2013 12:11 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'ExI chat list'<br><b>Subject:</b> bees again<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Walking today I noticed a grouping of dead bees on the sidewalk, so I went home, returned with a clean Tupperware container, collected about fifty of them. I noticed they were almost all in a feet-down configuration as opposed to on their sides or feet-up. It wasn’t particularly cold last night, with a minimum of about 5C, or low 40s F, clear skies. All stingers were intact, no signs of trauma on the bees. Before I even made it all the way back home, I was surprised to see one bee was alive and apparently well, flying about inside the container. Now, about half an hour after I collected the lifeless bees, several of them (about eight) appear healthy, with another several demonstrating some sign of life, such as a moving leg. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I don’t know what to make of it. I have never seen a bunch of bees just land in random patterns on the sidewalk like that and go into a deathlike dormancy. I was thinking of going up to Stanford, see if their entomologists had some suggestions, or go over to Lockheed, put them in our chemical spectral analyzer, see if we could detect neonicotinoids or something. Had these bees landed in the grass nearby, no one would have ever observed them. They would be just the colony which mysteriously disappeared.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If anyone knows anyone who is interested in this, a local university or something, I am willing to mail the bees to them. Open to suggestion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>