Circular No. 1 38. isHued May lo, 1911. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



L. O. HOWARD. Entomologist and Chief of Buieau. 



THE OCCirRRENCE OF BEE DISEASES IN THE UmTED STATES. 



(Preliminary Report.) 

 By E. F. Phillips, Ph. D., 

 In Oiarge of Bee Culture. 



In conducting a campaign for the eradication or control of a pest it 

 is of the highest importance that information be obtained concerning 

 its location. For this reason one of the phases of the work on the 

 brood diseases of bees in the Bureau of Entomology has been to 

 learn where these diseases now occur in the United States. There has 

 never before been anopportunit}'^ for such work, and the extent of dis- 

 ease has been largely a matter of estimate and conjecture. It is obvious 

 that such data are of value not only in aiding present apiary inspec- 

 tion, but also in obtaining inspection where it is not now provided. 

 These data are also to be used in the distribution of bulletins and other 

 publications to the people who need them and in numerous other ways. 



The object of the present publication is to present the data on this 

 subject acquired by the bureau previous to March 1, 1911. It is not 

 claimed that the work has been completed, for this is obviousl}' not 

 the case. The publication of this preliminary report is deemed 

 advisable, so that those interested in the control of the brood diseases 

 of bees ma 3^ have an opportunity to make use of the present knowl- 

 edge of the subject. It is hoped that bee keepers wlio have additional 

 information will recognize the deficiencies of these records, and will 

 aid in making them more complete by sending to this bureau samples 

 of diseased brood for examination. 



In asking bee keepers for data on the occurrence of these diseases 

 it is found that some are unwilling to let it be known that they have 

 disease in their apiaries. This, of course, should not be so, as it is 

 no particular disgrace to have disease appear in the apiary. The dis- 

 grace comes in allowing it to remain. In appreciation of this feeling, 

 however, the bureau makes it a policy not to announce the names of 



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