50 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF APIARIES. 
Dr. William R. Howard, of Fort Worth University, Fort Worth, 
Tex., has published several papers on the bacteriology of bee dis- 
eases. In a paper published in 1894 (York Publishing Company, 
Chicago) he attributed “ foul brood ” to Bacillus alvei. Evidently he 
was dealing with American foul brood, and we now know that Baci- 
lus larve is present in that disease. 
The same author undertook to determine the cause of pickle broo« 
and described a specific fungus, Aspergillus pollinis. No investi- 
gator has since been able to find any such fungus in similar 
specimens. 
In 1900 (Gleanings in Bee Culture, p. 121) this author published 
an account of some brief and entirely inadequate investigations made 
on what he chose to call “New York Bee Disease, or Black Brood.” 
A specific organism, Bacillus milii, is described, but the view is ex- 
pressed that this is modified, perhaps, by Bacillus thoracis. During 
the investigations of the Department of Agriculture it has been 
learned from whom Doctor Howard got his specimens, and the same 
men have furnished specimens which they declare to be of the same 
diseased condition as those furnished Doctor Howard. ‘These, how- 
ever, contain Bacillus alvei, and the disease is the same as that de- 
scribed by Cheyne, now named European foul brood. 
It is most unfortunate for Doctor Howard that in not a single 
point have his descriptions been verified. Certainly it would seem 
unwise in him to put out the names Bacillus milii and Bacillus 
thoracis as new species without descriptions and after so short an 
investigation. We can not, therefore, sympathize very much with 
him when his views are overthrown. 
The American bee journals and text-books on apiculture have 
until recently contained statements to the effect that Bacillus alvet 
is the cause of the disease which has been almost universally called 
“ foul brood.” This is due not only to the publications of Mackenzie, 
Harrison, and Howard, but very largely also to the attempt to deter- 
mine Bacillus alvei by microscopic examination. The best-known 
case of this is probably the examination of diseased brood made by 
Mr. Thomas William Cowan, editor of the British Bee Journal. 
On a visit to Medina, Ohio, Mr. Cowan was shown a sample of dis- 
eased brood, and after a microscopic examination he announced that 
he found Bacillus alvei, and that the diseased condition is identical 
with that found in England. That this ropy type (for such it was) 
is found in England can not be doubted, but that the germs which 
Mr. Cowan saw were Bacillus alvei may well be doubted. I have 
taken particular pains to ask Mr. E. R. Root, who was present, 
whether Mr. Cowan made a cultural examination, and was assured 
that the microscopic examination was the only one made. | 
The announcement of this examination in Gleanings in Bee Cul- 
