BRIEF HISTORY OF BEE DISEASES. 31 



foul brood is a fermenting fungus belonging to the genus Cryptococ- 

 cus. Geilen (17), in 18G8, thought that when bees alight on the 

 remains of animal bodies the putrefying matter thus carried with 

 them may cause foul brood. The fermentation of bee bread was 

 thought by Lambrecht (18) to be a sufficient cause of the disease; 

 while Hallier (19) thought that various fungi could produce the 

 disorder. On the contrary, Cornallia (20), in 1870, exprest the 

 ophiion that a fungus {Cryptococcvs alrearis) is the specific cause of 

 the trouble. Fischer (21), in 1871, supposed that a predisposing 

 factor of foul brood is to be found in insufficient nourishment. In 

 1874 Colin and Eidem received from Schonfeld samples of foul brood 

 and, upon examination, they found spores and rods. In 1885 Chesh- 

 ire and Cheyne (22) determined the cause and named the germ 

 Bacillus alvei. Dickel (23) claimed that a number of different 

 species might be the cause of foul brood. In 1900 Harrison (24) 

 writes on foul brood and Bacillus alvei, its cause. Doctor Lambotte 

 (25), in 1902, made some interesting studies concerning the relation 

 of Bacillus alvei and Bacillus mesentericus vulgafiis. 



Since so many conflicting views have been held as to the cause of 

 foul brood, one might conclude that the term " foul brood " has been 

 applied incorrectly to a number of different disorders. In the light 

 of more recent work this supposition is strengthened. 



In June, 1902, the author, under the direction of Dr. Veranus A. 

 Moore, began an investigation of bee diseases, especially as they ex- 

 isted in New York State. There were recognized at that time by 

 bee inspectors of that State a number of distinct diseases which 

 attacked the brood. Those which caused the greatest loss to the 

 apiarists were known to the bee experts as " black brood," " foul 

 brood," and " pickle brood." The results of the investigations of 

 1902 (26), 1903 (27), and 1904 (28) on these disorders, and on palsy 

 or paralysis, are embodied in the following pages. 



THE TERM " FOUL BROOD " AS HITHERTO APPLIED. 



In the discussion of foul brood of bees it must be remembered that 

 vmtil recent years the name has been applied to what is now known to 

 be two distinct diseases. 



Schirach, in 1769, gave the name foul brood to a diseased condition 

 in the brood of bees, but it is impossible to know to which of the two 

 he referred. It may be that both diseases existed then as now and 

 that he did not observe the fact that the two were different. We 

 have reason to think that there are, at the present time in Europe, 

 two distinct diseases to which the name foul brood is being applied. 

 It is definitely known that such is the case in America. 



It becomes necessary, then, to have two names to designate these 



