WHITE, NOVEMBER 6, 1906. 77 



"European foul brood" and "American foul brood" for two of the 

 infectious diseases of the brood of bees is explained. 



The technique used by the writer of the bulletin in making the 

 investigations is given in Part I. In this portion also is discussed 

 somewhat the normal flora of the apiarj'". It was not the intention 

 in making this study of the normal flora to give a complete hst of the 

 bacteria which might be encountered, but to study those species 

 which occur most frequenth', and to describe them with sufficient 

 care to make their identification possible. 



The results of the study indicate that comparatively few bacteria 

 are present in healthy colonies, on combs, in honey, in larvae, or on 

 adult bees. In the intestine of adult bees, however, there were 

 usually found a A'ery large number of individual bacteria, wliich, as a 

 rule, however, represented comparatively few species. One species, 

 an anaerobe, is of much interest since it occurs quite constantly and 

 in very large numbers. It might be mentioned that the bees that 

 did not show this intestinal flora were usually the younger adults. 

 A number of fungi and yeasts were also encountered. 



The subject-matter in Part II, "The diseases of bees," is not mate- 

 rially unlike that which appeared in earlier publications to which 

 references have already been made. The author of the paper under 

 consideration had reached no definite conclusion concerning the etio- 

 hjgical relation of Bacillus alvei to European foul brood, the disease 

 in which this species is usually found in large numbers. That any 

 direct causal relation did exist seemed questionable. 



In American foul brood. Bacillus larvx was found in large numbers 

 in the larvae dead of the disease in all the samples examined. Pure 

 cultures of the organism had been obtained, but not m a suitable 

 form for making inoculation experiments. The author of the paper 

 did not feel justified in stating positively that Bacillus larvx is the 

 cause of the disease. All that seemed justified was the statement 

 that the organism had been found constantly present in the disease. 



The following brief summary was made of the results obtained 

 fi-om the study of the bee diseases : 



(1) There are a number of diseased conditions which affect the apiary. 



(2) The disease which seems to cause the most rapid loss to the apiarist is European 

 foul brood, in which is found Bacillus alvei — first isolated, studied, and named by 



' Cheshire and Cheyne in 1885. 



(3) The distribution of Bacillus alvei in the infected hive is as follows: 



(a) The greatest number of infecting germs are found in the bodies of dead larvae. 



(b) The pollen stored in the cells of the foul-brood combs contains many of these 

 infecting organisms. 



(c) The honey stored in brood combs infected with this disease has been found to 

 contain a few bacilli of this species. 



(d) The surface of combs, frames, and hives Jiay be contaminated. 



(e) The wings, head, legs, thorax, abdome^and intestinal contents of adult bees 

 were found to be contaminated with Bacillus alvei. 



