REV. H. HI&GINS ON DEATH OF COMMON HIVE BEE. 29 



tion of this part never excited any particular attention on the 

 part of either of these distinguished naturalists ; and De Haan 

 describes Fabricius's species, Hexapus sexpes, as if there were 

 nothing especial or abnormal in a Decapod having only six pairs of 

 legs besides the claws. Mr. "White made a similar mistake on one 

 occasion, when he described an anomourous genus allied to 

 Lithodes, in which the fifth pair of legs were not visible ; but 

 when, at my suggestion, a more careful examination was made, 

 they were found, as was anticipated, in a rudimentary form, con- 

 cealed under the edge of the carapace. I believe that I can dis- 

 cover even in De Haan's figure something like a little tubercle at 

 the base of the fourth leg, which is probably the rudimentary 

 representative of the fifth. 



Death of the Common Hive Bee, supposed to be occasioned by a 

 parasitic Pungus. By the Eev. Heney Higgins. Com- 

 municated by the President. 



[Eead June 3rd, 1858.] 



On the 18th of March last, Timpron Martin, Esq., of Liverpool, 

 communicated to me some circumstances respecting the death of 

 a hive of bees in his possession, which induced me to request from 

 him a full statement of particulars. Mr. Martin gave me the 

 following account : — 



" In October last I had three hives of bees which I received into 

 my house. Each doorway was closed, and the hive placed upon a 

 piece of calico ; the corners were brought over the top, leaving a 

 loop by which the hive was suspended from the ceiling. The hives 

 were taken down about the 14th of March ; two were healthy, but 

 all the bees in the third were dead. There was a gallon of bees. 

 The two hives containing live bees were much smaller ; but in each 

 of them were dead ones. Under whatever circumstances you pre- 

 serve bees through the winter, dead ones are found at the bottom, 

 in the spring. The room, an attic, was dry ; and I had preserved 

 the same hives in the same way during the winter of 1856. In 

 what I may call the dead hive there was abundance of honey when 

 it was opened ; and it is clear that its inmates did not die for want. 

 It is not a frequent occurrence for bees so to die ; but I have known 

 another instance. In that case the hive was left out in the ordi- 

 nary way, and possibly cold was the cause of death. I think it 

 probable that my bees died about a month before the 14th of 



