1919] ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY — ENTOMOLOGY. 359 



Shot-hole borer (Xyleborus fornicatus), E. R. Speyer {Dept. Agr. Ceylon 

 Bui. 43 {1919), pp. 16, pis. 2).— A discussion of the treatment of tea prunings 

 on estates infested with the shot-hole borer (X. fornicatus). 



Report of the State apiarist for the year 1917, F. E. Millen {Rpt. State 

 Apiarist Iowa, 6 (1917), pp. 89, figs. 12). — This consists in large part of the 

 proceedings of the sixth annual convention of the Iowa Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion, held at Des Moines, December 4 and 5, 1917. Among the papers pre- 

 sented are the following : 



The Present and Future of Beekeeping in the United States, by E. R. Root 

 (pp. 31-33) ; The Proper Spacing of Frames, by C. P. Dadant (pp. 37-41) ; A 

 New-Old Method of Wintering, by E. R. Root (pp. 41, 42) ; Painted v. Non- 

 painted Comb Foundation, by J. W. Tinsley (pp. 42-44) ; Points of Interest in 

 tlie Anatomy of the Honeybee, by H. E. Ewlng (pp. 44-51) ; Beekeeping in 

 War Times, by E. F. Phillips (pp. 51-56), previously noted from another source 

 (E. S. R., 39, p. 869) ; The Mechanism which Determines Sex in the Honeybee, 

 by H. R. Werner (pp. 56-65) ; The Maintenance of Colonies from the Close of 

 the Honey Flow One Year until Its Beginning the Next, by G. S. Demuth (pp. 

 65-73; Beekeeping in the South, by F. C. Pellett (pp. 74r-79) ; Rearing of 

 Queens, by E. W. Atkins (pp. 79-82). 



Nosema disease, G. F. White {U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 7S0 {1919), pp. 59, pis.. 

 4, figs. 7 ) . — This is a detailed report of investigations conducted by the author 

 extending over a period of several years. The results, which are presented in 

 detail, much of the data being recorded in tabular form, have led to the follow- 

 ing summary and conclusions: 



" Nosema disease is an infectious disorder of adult bees caused by Noscnia 

 apis. The disease is not particularly malignant in character, being in this respect 

 more like sacbrood than the foulbroods. Adult workers, drones, and queens are 

 susceptible to infection but the brood is not. The infecting agent N. apis is a 

 protozoan that attacks the walls of the stomach and occasionally those of the 

 Malpighian tubules. A colony can be inoculated by feeding it sirup containing 

 the cruslied stomachs of infected bees. One-tenth of the germs present in a sin- 

 gle stomach are sufficient to produce marked infection in a colony. Within a 

 week following the inoculation the parasite can be found within the walls of 

 the stomach. Before the close of the second week infection can be determined 

 by the gross appearance of the organ. The disease can be produced at any sea- 

 son of the year by feeding inoculations. Infected bees may be found at all 

 seasons of the year, the highest percentage of infection occurring in the spring. 

 •' Nosema infection among bees occurs at least in Australia, Switzerland, 

 Germany, Denmark, England, Canada, and the United States. This distribu- 

 tion shows that the occurrence of the disease is not dependent altogether upon 

 climatic conditions. The course of the disease Is not affected directly by the 

 character or quantity of food obtained and used by the bees. A sluggish body 

 of water, if near an apiary and used by bees as a water supply, and the robbing 

 of diseased colonies, must be considered for the present as two probable sources 

 of infection. The transmission of the disease through the medium of flowers 

 is not to be feared. The hands and clothing of the apiarist, the tools used 

 about an apiary, and winds need not be feared as means by which the disease 

 is si)read. Hives which have housed infected colonies need not be disinfected, 

 and combs from such colonies are not a likely means for the transmission of the 

 disease. Bees dead of the disease about the apiary are not likely to cause 

 infection unless they serve to containinate the water supply. 



" N. apis suspended in water is destroyed by heating for 10 minutes at about 

 136° F. (58° C). Suspended in honey, N. apis is destroyed by heating at about 



