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xmderstand there was an appearance of mould on some of 

 the comb. There was an ample ventilation I think, 

 indeed as the bees were suspended they had more air 

 than through the summer when placed on a stand." 



AVhen 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 might be sent for examination. They were trans- 

 mitted to me in a very dry state, and a careful inspection 

 with a lens afforded no indication of vegetable growth. 

 I then broke up a specimen, and examined the portions 

 under a compoimd microscope, using a Nachet, No. 4. The 

 head and thorax were clean, but on a portion of the 

 sternum were innumerable very minute, linear, slightly 

 curved, bodies, shewing the well-known oscilating or 

 swarmmg motion. Notwithstanding the agreement of 

 these minute bodies with the characters of the genus 

 Bacterium of the Vibrionia, I regarded them as spermatia, 

 having frequently seen others indiBtiuguishable from 

 them, under circumstances inconsistent with the presence 

 of confervcB, as in the interior of the immature peridia and 

 sporangia of fungals. 



In the specimen first examined were no other indica- 

 tions of the growth of any parasite, but from the interior 

 of the abdomen of a second bee I obtained an abundance 

 of well-defined globular bodies, resembling the spores 

 of a fungus, -00012 to -OOOIG inch in diameter. Three 

 out of four specimens subsequently examined contained 

 within the abdomen similar spores. No traces of mycelium 

 were visible ; the plants had come to maturity, fruited, 

 and withered away, leaving only the spores. 



The chief question tlicn remai)iing to be solved was as 

 to tho time when the sjiores were developed, Avhother 

 before or after the death of the bees. In order, if possi- 

 ble, to determine this, I placed four of tlic dead bees in 

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