436 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jui.y. 1919. 



characteristic bloated abdomen, but look quite normal; they crawl 

 out of the hive and die. One peculiarity of bees dying from pira^ysis 

 is that the process is very gradual. A bee picked up apparently dead 

 will move its legs, and hovirs afterwards warmth will cause it to move 

 still. The healthy bees of an affected hive try to remove the sick bees 

 and drag dead and dying out of the entrance, and in this effort they 

 become themselves affected. Possibly infection also takes place by the 

 older bees feeding the younger ones. But in whatever way it is com- 

 municated it infects only bees of the same colony or of the same 

 strain. So when we take away all the brood from a colony affected 

 with paralysis and put in its place the brood from a resistant stock 

 the young bees hatching from it, although, surrouude-d by infected 

 bees, will -not become infected, and as the old bees die off the hive 

 becomes free from disease. Unless, however, the queen, is replaced at 

 the same time, there is every likelihood of ))aralysis again breaking out. 

 The brood taken away from an infected colony can b© given to any 

 colony free from the disease, and there will be no outbreak provided 

 that no bees are transferred with the c-mbs. This seems to prove 

 conclusively that combs, brcod, honey, and pollen do not carry infection, 

 and that young bees only become infected after hatching by contact 

 with the diseased bees. Bee paralysis is a disease which is more 

 prevalent and more virulent in hot than in cool climates. In tne 

 United States of America paralysis is a formidable disease in the warm 

 southern States, while in the cooler northern latitudes there are merely 

 indications of its presence. In Victoria it is sometimes of a very 

 virulent type north of the Dividing Range, while in the coastal country 

 ifc is hardly noticeable. If it were correct that the warmer the climate 

 the severer the disease, then' we should expect it to be worse in the 

 northern States of Australia than in Victoria. However, I am not 

 aware that such, is the case. There are probably other factors than 

 latitude, such as food and elevation, &c. I do not know whether b. e 

 paralysis is more prevalent in the northern latitudes, which conespond 

 to the southern in America; but I do know that queens and their 

 cjueen and worker progeny obtained from localities in which paralysis 

 is practically unknown, often develop the disease in a virulent form 

 when introduced into apiaries from which paralysis has been e'iminatsd. 

 Judging by this experience we must assume that paralysis is not in 

 evidence in the northern States, for I know of quite a number of 

 instances of outbreaks of this disease amongst the progeny of the 

 queens obtained from there, and I am quite sure that no queen bree.ier 

 would breed and send out anything likely to bring him into disrepute. 

 There are numerous instances of paralysis breaking out amongst the 

 bees of queens introduced into an apiary from outside the Stats, whi'e 

 the local strain remained unaffected. I will only give one personal 

 experience. Some 50 colonies of bees, from an apiary without a sign 

 of paralysis, were sent to me some years ago from a distance of i2€0 

 miles. There was not the least indication of paralysis in my own 

 apiary, to which the new arrivals were added. Yet, within a short 

 time, nearly every one of the newcomers developed para''ysis of a very 

 virulent type. All were re-queened in due course from the local strain, 

 and in time the symptoms disappeared, while none of my own colonies 

 were affected. In view of the experience of many apiarists, there can 

 be no doubt that by a process of weeding out and select breeding from 



