Bee Diseases and Enemies 403 



The color varies, but is frequently light yellow or brown 

 and the head is often almost black. The body is swollen 

 and the contents watery and the head may be quite hard. 

 There is no ropiness. This disease is usually not the cause 

 of any serious loss in the apiary and as a rule no treatment 

 is necessary. The most serious aspect of this disease is 

 that it is often mistaken for European foul brood or American 

 foul brood and the colony is treated accordingly. The 

 cause is a filterable virus. 



Methods of spread. 



Since all three of these diseases are infectious they are 

 spread in much the same way. It has long been recognized 

 that it is unsafe to feed honey from a diseased colony and 

 probably most cases are due to the carrying of the virus in 

 honey, as in robbing or feeding. It is well, therefore, to prac- 

 tice the following precautionary measures : 



(1) Do not allow weak colonies to be robbed out. 



(2) Never feed honey purchased on the open market. 



(3) If possible keep all honey from diseased apiaries out 

 of the neighborhood. 



(4) In introducing purchased queens, transfer them to 

 clean cages and destroy the old cage, candy and accompany- 

 ing workers. 



(5) Colonies of bees should never be purchased unless it 

 is certain that they are free from disease. 



(6) The purchase of old combs and second-hand supplies 

 is dangerous unless it is certain that they come from healthy 

 apiaries. 



Treatment. 



The treatment of an infectious bee disease consists pri- 

 marily in the elimination or removal of the cause of the 

 disease. In treating a disease, therefore, the aim of the 

 manipulation is to remove or destroy ^all the virus causing 

 the disease. It should be remembered that the effort is 

 not to save the larvae that are already dead or dying but to 



