KNTOMOLOGY. 967 



The symptoms of foul ])i-()od are de.scrilx'd in detail and the disease is 

 distiiig-uislu^d from chilled brood. Sonit' writers have suspected that 

 foul l)roo(l \aricd in dilierent countries, l)ut no bacteriological work has 

 been done to substantiate this view. The author examined diseased 

 larva? from France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, England, 

 Cu))a, and 18 States in this country, with the result that BdcUJiiK alrel 

 was isolated from every case. Slight differences were noted in the 

 cultures, but not sufficiently pronounced to constitute a well-marked 

 variety of the species. The pathogenicity of B. alvei varies in different 

 countries and is especially virulent in new countries. The author 

 describes in detail the different morphological and biological characters 

 of B. alvei^ including notes on staining methods, the germination of 

 spores, polymorphism, and variations in the growth of the bacillus 

 upon a large variety of culture media. In experiments to determine 

 the relation of the bacillus to free oxj^gen, spores obtained from a pure 

 culture on agar were spread on cover glasses and placed in a glass 

 chamber so that they were constantly exposed to a current of air. The 

 chamber was exposed to the ordinary light of a room. A cover glass 

 was taken out every 2-1 hours and tested to determine whether the 

 spores would grow. The experiment was continued for the period of 

 a month and at the end of that time the spores still germinated rapidly. 

 When grown on liouillon B. alvei produced a slight amount of ammonia. 

 A varying amount of acid is formed in all sugar bouillon cultures of 

 the bacillus. On potatoes a yellow pigment was produced and on gela- 

 tine cultures a peculiar odor was given off'. The spores on cover glasses 

 exposed to sunlight in September germinated after 4, 6, and 7 hours' 

 exposure. 



Experiments were conducted for the purpose of determining the 

 thermal death point of spores of this bacillus. Test tubes containing 

 inoculated bouillon were placed in boiling water, removed at stated 

 intervals, cooled, and incubated. Spores from a 7 months' old culture 

 were killed b}^ a temperature of 100'^ C. for 1 hour and 20 minutes. 

 Spores from an agar culture 9 days old germinated to some extent 

 after an exposure of 2 hours and -15 minutes to the same temperature. 

 Experiments were also made to determine the thermal death point of 

 B. (il rd in honey, during which 3 methods were used: Silk threads 

 with dried spores on them, test tubes containing honey inoculated with 

 spores, and capillary tubes containing a suspension of spores in dis- 

 tilfed water. The honey was of 2 kinds, clover and buckwheat, con- 

 taining 0.057 per cent and 0.17 per cent of formic acid. B}- the first 

 method, there was considerable growth after 2 hours' exposure at a 

 temperature of 114'^ C. ; by the second method, no growth took place 

 after exposure of 2^ hours to a temperature of 115^ C. ; while b}^ the 

 third method no growth took place after an exposure to the same 

 temperature for 2 hours and 4.5 minutes. 



In order to determine the relation of B. alvei to light, cover glasses 



