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REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 171 
_ It is further a pleasant duty for me to acquaint you with the fact that the Bee- 
Keepers’ Association of North America, as well as some of the State bee-keepers’ 
associations, have passed resolutions thanking’ in appropriate terms the honorable 
Comunissioner of Agriculture and yourself for the deep interest you have manifested 
in advancing and developing the industry of bee-keeping. 
T am also under continued obligations to the publishers of many apicultural and 
agricultural journals for the favor shown in puolishing my reports, and for files of 
their valuable papers, among which I would mention: 
~The American Bee Journal, Messrs. Thomas G. Newman & Son, Chicago, IIL; 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, Mr. A. I. Root, Medina, Ohio; The American Apiculturist, 
Mr. Henry Alley, Wenham, Mass.; The Canadian Bee Journal, The D. A. Jones 
Company, Beeton, Ontario; The Bee-Keeper’s Guide, Mr. A. G. Hili, Kendallville, 
Ind.; The Bee-Keeper’s Magazine, Messrs. Aspinwall & Treadwell, Barrytown-on- 
- Hudson, N. Y.; The Bee-Keeper’s Advance, Messrs. Mason & Sons, Mechanies Falls, 
Me.; The Cultivator and Country Gentleman, Messrs. L. Tucker & Son, Albany, N. 
Y.; The Southern Cultivator, Atlanta, Ga.; The Canadian Honey Producer, Mr. B, 
Holterman, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, etc. 
Yours, very truly, 
Dr. C. V. RILEY, 
U. S. Entomologist. 
N. W. McLAIN. 
DISEASES OF BEES. 
! 
The study of some forms of disease to which bees are subject, including an inquiry 
into the causes of disease, and the discovery and application of suitable remedies, 
has occupied much time, and the results from this line of investigation have been 
in a good degree successful and satisfactory. 
The excellent classification and complete history which have been given of the 
micro-parasitical forms which affect the life and health of bees simplify diagnosis 
and facilitate the discovery and application of preventives and cures. Modern 
science has shown that it is often necessary to unlearn much of what was supposed 
to have passed beyond the region of doubt. The subject in hand furnishes no ex- 
ception. It is not strange that there should be confusion and error in dealing with 
the origin and habits of these micro-organisms which baffle the skill of the investi- 
gator. We are now collecting and tabulating data and testing theories in the cru- 
cible of experience, and while our investigations are incomplete and many seem- 
ingly determined facts lack full confirmation, and while significant manifestations 
await interpretation, we must be slow in reaching conclusions. We may indeed 
be in the region of the knowledge we seek after, but we must hold the evidence 
under survey tintil many-sided experience fully determines its value. 
Bacillus alvei (Cheshire). 
This disease, commonly but inappropriately called foul-brood, is indigenous in all 
parts of the United States, and is infectious and virulent to the last degree. Con- 
cerning the origin of Bacillus and other allied organisms but little is certainly known, 
but that the organism classified as Bacillus alvei is the active agent in the destruc- 
tion of both bees and brood is certain, for this agent is always present, and although 
its action in the living organism is exceedingly complicated it is also well defined. 
The symptoms of this disease may be more clearly described by contrasting the 
appearance of bees’ brood and combs in a healthy colony with the diagnostic symp- 
toms attending Bacillus alvei. The bees act as if discontented and discouraged; 
the combs commonly present a dingy, neglected, and untidy appearance, and a 
characteristic odor is present, sometimes not noticeable until the hive-cover is re- 
moved, at other times offensive at some distance from the hive. This odor is very 
like that emitted from glue which has been prepared for use, then put aside and 
allowed to ferment. Instead of the plump, white, smooth appearance common to 
healthy uncapped larvae, the membranes more or less wrinkled and shrunken, are 
streaked with yellow, which with the succeeding stages of disease changes into a 
dingy gray brown; then as putrefaction follows the color becomes a dirty red-brown. 
As evaporation progresses the mass settles to the lower side of the cell, and if the 
head of a pin be drawn through the mass, that which adheres appears quite stringy 
and elastic, the trachez and tougher tissues resisting decay adhering to thecell. Later 
nothing remains but a black, flat scale on the lower side near the bottom of the cell. 
If the disease does not assume the acute form before the pupa stage the brood is 
