sy pau i hall ee, 
PRESENT STATUS OF INVESTIGATION OF BEE DISEASES. 27 
mere than a nearly black scale remains. Should the larvie, however, escape con- 
tamination until nearly the period of pupahood, they are sealed over in the nor- 
mal way by a cover made of pollen-grains and wax, * * * and which is 
pervious to air. The cover furnishes a screen, op which part of the cocoon is 
soon after spread, but the inhabitant of the cell is marked out for death, and 
before very long the capping or sealing sinks and becomes concave, and in it 
punctures of an irregular character appear, * * * and this is a nearly 
conclusive sign of the diseased condition of the colony. The sense of smell is 
also appealed to, as a peculiar, very offensive, and extremely characteristic 
odor now escapes from the diseased combs. The bees, in addition, lose energy, 
but become unusually active in ventilating their hive by standing at the door, 
heads toward home, and flapping their wings persistently so that a strong out- 
current, and as a necessary consequence, a correspondingly indraught are set 
up. Should any attempt be made at removing a dead larva which has as- 
sumed a deep brown tint, its body tenaciously adhering to the cell wall will 
stretch out into long and thin strings like half-dried glue. The microscopist can 
easily explain this. The thin chitinous aerating sacs and trachez do not un- 
dergo decomposition at all easily, and these remaining, occasion the peculiarity 
referred to. * * * The disease iS terribly infectious, and once started soon 
spreads from cell to cel! and not unfrequently from stock to stock. 
Mr. Cheshire was doubtless quite familiar with the disease of the 
brood and this description of the symptoms, we may assume, was not 
made from any one case, but from his entire experience. At that 
time two diseases of the brood were not recognized. We are justi- 
fied in concluding that both diseases existed in England at that time, 
as they do now, and doubtless Mr. Cheshire had seen both without 
realizing that he was dealing with two distinct maladies. In this 
description he speaks of the disease as attacking brood at* various 
times, for he says: “ Should the larva, however, escape contamination 
until nearly the period of pupahood,” ete. His description before 
that sentence applies as well to what we now call European foul 
brood as to American foul brood, while the latter description, espe- 
cially where he speaks of the odor and ropiness, is undoubtedly drawn 
from experience with what we now call American foul brood. There 
is, at any rate, ground for the supposition that Mr. Cheshire was. 
dealing with two diseases. 
In the case of Mr. Cheyne, however, the case was entirely different. 
He was probably not familar with the brood disease from practical 
experience. He also probably did all his work from one specimen, for 
he says: “On August 11, 1884, Mr. Cheshire brought to me a piece 
of comb containing larve affected with foul brood, with which I per- 
formed the following experiments.” In describing this specimen he 
says: “These larve were dead, of a yellowish color, and almost 
liquid.” This description certainly applies as well to European foul 
brood. Since the original description of Bacillus alvei is so important 
in this work, it may be well to quote entire Mr. Cheyne’s part of this 
paper. This is practically unavailable to bee keepers, since it is con- 
