78 HISTOEICAL NOTES ON BEE DISEASES. 



(/) Bacillus alvei may appear in cultures made from the ovary of queens from Euro- 

 pean fotil-brood colonies, but the presence of this species suggests contamination from 

 the body of the queen while the cultures are being made and has no special significance. 



(4) The disease which seems to be most widespread in the United States we have 

 called American foul brood, and the organism which has been found constantly present 

 in the disease we have called Bacillus larvx. This disorder was thought by many in 

 this country and other covmtries as well to be the foul brood described by Cheshire 

 and Cheyne, but such is not the case. 



(5) From the nature of American foul brood it is thought that the organism has a 

 similar distribution to that of Bacillus alvei. 



(6) It appears that Em'opean foul brood was erroneously called "New York bee 

 disease" or "black brood" by Dr. William R. Howard in 1900. 



(7) There is a diseased condition affecting the brood of bees which is being called 

 "by the bee keepers "pickle brood." No conclusion can be drawn from the investi- 

 gation so far as to the cause of the disease. 



(8) Aspergillus pollinis, ascribed by Dr. William R. Howard as the cause of pickle 

 brood, has not been found in this investigation and is not believed by the author to 

 have any etiological relation to the so-called "pickle brood." 



(9) Palsy or paralysis is a diseased condition of the adult bees. No conclusion can 

 yet be drawn as to its cause. 



(10) Formaldehyde gas, as ordinarily used in the apiaries, is insufficient to insure 

 complete disinfection. 



Maassen, February, 1907. 



In 1907 Maassen ' reported on his work of the preceding year on 

 foul brood. Samples were received from 100 apiaries. An exami- 

 nation gave evidence of disease in 79 of them. Disease was not 

 found in the other 21. '^Spirochsete a2)is" was reported in samples 

 from 67 apiaries. Accompanying it B. brandenhurgiensis was reported 

 in 66 cases and B. alvei in one. B. alvei was not found generally in 

 the samples from Germany, occurring only in 1 1 of the cases. 



Among the 100 samples examined there were 2 in which was found 

 a species in almost pure cultures which before had been found accom- 

 panied by Bacillus alvei. This species Maassen named Streptococcus 

 apis. He says that it belongs to the pneumococcusgi'oup, being dif- 

 ferent from other members of the group by its marked peptonizing 

 character. Upon a certain medium he reports that the species could 

 be cultivated very easily. In 10 cases in which B. alvei was found 

 Streptococcus apis was reported in 8. No conclusive results were 

 obtained in his attempts to demonstrate the relation between any of 

 the organisms and the disease condition. 



In his report the following points of special interest are noted: 



1 . Maassen did not express any suspicion that two distmct infectious 

 diseases might be present in the condition he was studying as foul 

 brood. 



2. He reports the presence in samples from 67 apiaries of a micro- 

 organism wliich he had previously named Spirochsete apis, and with 

 ^-* 



I Maassen, Dr. Albert, February, 1907. Uber die sogenannte Faulbrut der Honigbienen. Mitteilungen 

 aus der kaiserliehen biologischen Anstalt fur Land- und Forstwirtschaft. Heft 4, pp. 51-53. 6 figs. 



