126 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
Britisu AssociaATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
Leeds Meeting. 
September 23d, 1858. 
Section D. 
On the Death of the Common Hive Bee, supposed to be 
occasioned by a Parasitic Fungus. By the Rev. H. H. 
Hieeins.* 
On the 18th of March last a gentleman of Liverpool 
communicated to me some circumstances respecting the 
death of a hive of bees in his possession, which induced me 
to request from him a full statement of particulars. He 
gave me the following account: “In October last I had 
three hives of bees, which I received into my house. The 
doorway of each hive was closed, and the hive was placed 
upon a piece of calico; the corners were brought over the 
top, leaving a loop, by which the hive was suspended from 
the ceiling. The hives were taken down about the 14th of 
March ; two were healthy, but all the bees in the third were 
dead. There was a gallon of bees. The two hives contain- 
ing live bees were much smaller; but in each there were 
dead ones. Under whatever circumstances you preserve 
bees through the winter, dead ones are found at the bottom 
of the hive in the spring. The room, an attic, was dry ; 
and I had preserved the same hives in the same way during 
the winter of 1856. In what I may call the dead hive 
there was abundance of honey when it was opened ; and itis 
clear that its inmates did not die from want. It is not a 
frequent occurrence for bees so to die; but I have known 
another instance. In that case the hive was left out in the 
ordinary way, and probably cold was the cause of death. I 
think it probable that my bees died about a month before the 
14th of March, merely from the circumstance that some one 
remarked about that time that there was no noise in the 
hive. They might have died earlier, but there were certainly 
live bees in the hive in January. I understand there was an 
appearance of mould on some of the comb. There was, I . 
think, ample ventilation, indeed, as the hives were suspended 
they had more air than through the summer when placed on 
a stand. When the occurrence was first made known to me 
I suggested that the bees might probably have died from the 
growth of a fungus, and requested some of the dead bees 
* This paper was printed in the ‘ Proceedings of the Linnean Society,’ 
vol, ili, p. 29, August 20th, 1858. 
