LAMBOTTE, SEPTEMBER 25, 1902. 55 



that foul brood might bo started in the colony, but repeated attempts 

 resulted each time in failure. 



lie then made a medium from bee larvae by the use of wliich he 

 thought he had obtained by successive inoculation a special variety 

 ot Bacillus inesentericus. He supposed that if Bacillus mesentericus 

 wore grown upon the bce-larvai medium its virulence for bees would 

 be increased. After using the culture of Bacillus mesentericus, which 

 had been grown upon the bee-larvse medium, and after inoculating 

 larvae as before, he reports that foul brood was pro(Uiccd with the 

 typical symptoms of the disease. The only exception noted was that 

 fewer cells were affected. 



He attributed his good results to two facts, first, that Bacillus 

 mesentericus was cultivated on a bee-larvse medium, and second, that 

 the experimental inoculation was made at a time of the year when the 

 activity of the hive was considerably diminished. To the latter 

 factor he attributes most of his success. He states that a colony 

 inoculated vnih Bacillus alvei or with Bacillus mesentericus grown on 

 a bee-larvre medium will not allow itself to become infected when it 

 is active at the beginning of the season. 



In his conclusions Lambotte wi'ites: 



(1) Bacillus alvei, described by Watson Cheyne and Cheshire as the specific cause 

 of foul brood, is simply the widely distributed organism Bacillus viesentericus vulgaris. 



(2) Bacillus mesentericus can be found in healthy hives, in the cells of the comb, and 

 in the intestines of bees. 



(3) Bacillus mesentericus, by growth in the tissues of larvae, produces changes char- 

 acteristic of foul brood. 



Lambotte insists that the hygiene of the colony is above all the 

 most important in the control of foul brood. He believes that unless 

 the resistance of the larvae to infection is maintained by good hygiene. 

 Bacillus mesentericus, which is so widely distributed in nature, may 

 invade the colony and produce foul brood in any apiary. 



A brief summary of Lambotte's works may be made as follows: 



1. He did not take into consideration the two forms of foul brood 

 described by some authors, working for the most part, at least, with 

 American foul brood only. 



2. He observed that in American foul brood it was not easy to 

 obtain a growth of the spores which are found in such large numbers 

 on microscopic examination. 



3. He suspected that an antiseptic was present in the dead remains 

 of the larvae in this disease which prevented the growth of the spores. 

 The effect of such an antiseptic he hoped to overcome by diluting it 

 with a large amount of the medium used for its cultivation. 



4. He obtained a bacillus by this special technique and identified 

 it as the BadUus alvei of Cheyne and Cheshii'e. 



