1004 BEp:s — PISCICULTURE 



plete absence of gravel. To clear up this question it would be necessary to 

 prevent newly hatched chicks from swallowing gravel. The fact that the 

 hen brings gravel to the chicks with the very first food containing grain 

 seems to confirm the opinion that gravel is indispensable for mechanical 

 digestion. 



BEES 782 - Cold as the Cause of the Death of Bees in a Colony Wintering under Good 



Conditions (i). — Astor a., in L' Apiculture, Year 60, No. 3-4, pp. 28-31. I'aris, 

 March-April I'lib. , 



In all hives, even these wintering under good conditions, both from 

 the point of view of population and food supply, ventilation, etc., a num- 

 ber of bees ahv&3^s die during winter confinement. This number varies 

 according to the size of the colony, the number of old bees in the autumn, 

 etc., ranging usually from one hundred to one thousand per hive. The 

 writer has found that cold is the cause of the death of the bees. He picked 

 up every morning the bees which had fallen lifeless on the floor of the hive. 

 These apparentlj^ dead bees, which if left alone would no doubt die shortly, 

 were put in a queen bee cage made of metal gauze, and gently warmed. The 

 majority of them were restored to life by the warming only, regaining their 

 full vigour and liveliness. 



The computation of the bees falling lifeless ever}^ day and those restor- 

 ed by warming, and dead bees leads to the following conclusion.s : 



The number of lifeless bees taken from the floor of the hive and the per- 

 centage of dead bees relativeh^ to those lifeless in appearance is larger in 

 proportion as the temj^erature is lower, and vice-versa. 



At least 80 % of the bees which perish during the winter in a colony 

 wintering under good conditions are killed by cold. 



piscicuL- 783- A New Skin Disease in Carp in Germany. — plehn m., in Aiis.cmcinc Fischerei- 



TURE Zcituns;, Year 1915, Xo. 12, pp. 179-180. Munich, 191 5. 



A description is given of a skin disease, hitherto unknown, which caused 

 great damage in 1915 in fish ponds in Germany. The first symptoms are 

 one or more characteristic dark spots on the skin, which gradually spread and 

 finally reach the size of a 5 shilling piece. The colour sometimes disappears, 

 but mostly a hole forms in the middle of the spot ; it is shallow, being 

 limited to the subcutaneous layer, which then gives it a fine white colour. 

 The white hole is surrounded by a darker zone which graduall}' grows 

 fainter. These are the typical sj^mptoms of the disease. 



Cases are also observed in which the subcutaneous la} er is attacked; 

 it comes away in pieces which float in the water. Below the subcutaneous 

 part attacked, a hole forms in the flesh, the dark colour of the zone loses its 

 intensity, and finally a characteristic abscess forms. 



The diseased skin contains enormous quantities of bacteria, and it 

 is be^-ond doubt that one of these bacteria is the pathogenic agent in the 

 disease. It was however impossible to find the presumed pathogenic agent, 

 and the Writer asks all fish breeders and investigators to communicate to 

 him in detail their observations on the disease. 



(i) .See B. 1915, No. 209. {Ed.) 



