September, 1915. 



American Hee Journal 



at second hand while that of Dr. Miller 

 is of a protracted nature at first hand. 

 However, the opinion that European 

 foulbrood is " usually transmitted by 

 the queen "was created by two facts, 

 as follows : 



Cheshire, in his " Bees and Beekeep- 

 ing," 2d volume, page 548, gives an 

 accounc of the dissection of a queen 

 from a colony suffering with foulbrood. 

 He writes : 



"The queen was alive at her arrival, 

 and 1 forthwith began a dissection. 

 Having removed the left air-sac, which 

 lies within the first and second abdomi- 

 nal rings, and which was very much 

 above the average size — a constant in- 

 dication of the presence of bacilli — I 

 came upon the ovary, of which I had 

 previously removed many dozens. This 

 one was abnormally yellow, and very 

 soft, so that it was difficult to detach it 

 from the larger external trachese with- 

 out tearing ; but a separated ovarian 

 tube, placed under a second micro- 

 scope, magnifying 2.50 diameters, at 

 once showed four or five bacilli, swim- 

 ming along with a lazy sort of progres- 

 sion. Detaching now a half-developed 

 egg, and crushing it flat, nine bacilli 

 were quickly counted. This was not 

 an isolated case." 



It is true that Cheshire had not dif- 

 ferentiated between the two kinds of 

 foulbrood. So we might ask whether 

 this was American foulbrood or Euro- 

 pean foulbrood. But it is well-known 

 that in thousands of cases of American 

 foulbrood the queen has never been 

 known to transmit the disease. Now 

 let us refer to the Aprl number of the 

 American Bee Journal, page 128. My 

 son, M. G. Dadant, reports experiments 

 upon an apiary in which 51 colonies 

 were treated for l^uropean foulbrood. 

 "In three cases, very prolific queens 

 from diseased colonies were given to 

 healthy weak colonies, either queenless 

 or in which the poorer queen had been 

 killed. Every one developed I'^uropean 

 toulbrood." 



This introducing of queens from dis- 

 eased colonies was done at my sugges- 

 tion, because of Cheshire's statements, 

 and also because it has been shown 

 that in some cases the supplying of a 

 healthy queen is sufficient to arrest the 

 disease. 



However, I am very free to admit 

 that it is very probable that Dr. Miller 

 •s right in his contention that "when a 

 larva becomes diseasedand dies, before 

 it becomes at all putrid the nurse bees 

 suck its juices and feed them to healthy 

 larvse, which in their turn become 

 diseased." 



We are very mucli in the dark yet 

 concerning all these matters, and we 

 must keep on theorizing until some 

 one discovers the exact facts and just 

 how much there is iin either the 

 queens, the brood, the combs or the 



honey, in the transmission of disease. 

 But it already looks very probable that 

 there is no danger lurking in the honey 

 with European foulbrood, while it is 

 principally there with American foul- 

 brood. Queens need not be changed 

 in American foulbrood, but their re- 

 moval is often necessary in European 

 foulbrood. 



We keep our columns open for 

 further discussion of all these points. 



C. p. D. 



ManaKiu^ Straw Skeps for a 

 Crop iu Modern Franie.s 



■ A French lady beekeeper of consid- 

 erable experience, Madeleine Maraval, 

 tells in the " .\beille Bourguignonne " 

 of August, how she succeeds in getting 

 the honey crop of her colonies in straw 

 skeps stored in movable-frame hives. 

 She owns colonies in both skeps and 

 movable frames. She proceeds as fol- 

 lows : 



"My aim is not to increase the num- 

 ber of colonies, but to secure as much 

 honey as possible. During April, after 

 the spring visit I begin to move each 

 of the colonies in straw skeps in the 

 direction of a good colony in movable- 

 frame hive, a little, each evening, after 

 the flight. In this way each well devel- 

 oped colony on frames has near it, 

 after awhile, a straw skep, with the en- 

 trances as close together as possible. 



"At the opening of the honey crop 

 we are ready for the juggle. I proceed 

 with it as soon as the skeps are found 

 heavy enough to be safe, by removing 

 each skep to a new spot, in the middle 

 of the day, when the big crop is on. 

 There is a great flurry among the poor 

 honey gatherers when they come back 

 heavily loaded and fail to find their 

 home in its place. But the flutter is of 

 short duration ; the neighbors are very 

 accessible to those who come loaded. 

 There is hardly a half hour of excite- 

 ment and the adoption is consummated 

 to the benefit of the movable-frame 

 hive which thus doubles the number of 

 its field workers and trebles its crop. 



"As for the straw-skep colony, the 

 only thing expected of it is to gather 

 sufficient stores to live until the next 

 year, when it will be made to siiik 

 again." 



Smell Organs of Coleoptera 



We are in receipt of a study on the 

 " Olfactory Sense of Coleoptera," by N. 

 E. Mclndoo, of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology of Washington, D. C. This 

 work was published by the " Biological 

 Bulletin " in June. Mr. Mclndoo is the 

 scientist who wrote an article on "The 

 Sense of Smell of the Honey Bee " in 

 the American Bee Journal of June, 

 1914. His conclusions in the present 

 study are the same as those reached by 

 him before, that the sense of smell is 

 not located in the antennae of insects 



AN Al'lARY IN WILI-OW SKEl'S WIIH S IRAW ROOFS IN THE HEATHER 

 DISTRICT OK SOUTHERN FRANCE; 



