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Observations and Experiments bearing on "Isle of Wight" 

 Disease in Hive Bees.^ By John Anderson, M.A., B.Sc, Lecturer in 

 Bee-keeping, North of Scotland College of Agriculture, and John Rennie, 

 D.Sc, F.R.S.E., Lecturer in Parasitology, University of Aberdeen. 



(With Plate.) 



(Kead 24th January 1916. MS. received 1 1th February 1916.) 



Contents. page 



I. Introduction ........ 23 



II. The Course of Isle of Wight Disease, as observed in three distinct localities : 



(o) Isle of Lewis ........ 24 



Summary ........ 29 



(b) Craibstone — Spontaneous recovery . . . . .31 



(c) Deeside . . . . . . . .32 



ill. Investigations bearing on the relation of Nosema apis to Isle of Wight 



Disease ......... 41 



Nosema infection experiments ...... 47 



Conclusions . . . . . . . .51 



IV. Observations and Experiments bearing on the Infectivity of Isle of Wight 



Disease as distinguished from Microsporidiosis . . . .52 



(a) Artificial Infection ....... 52 



(6) Natural Infection . . . . . . .59 



Conclusion regarding Infectivity ...... 61 



V. Explanation of Plate . . . . . . . . 61 



I.— INTRODUCTION. 



These observations were commenced in 1909 by one of us (J. A.), whose 



journal contains a detailed record of the history of each stock of bees in the 



Island of Lewis. In the autumn of 1913 J.B. paid two visits to the Nicolson 



Apiary at Stornoway, and subsequently arrangements were made, through 



Professor J. Arthur Thomson, for continuing the research in association with 



the Natural History Department of Aberdeen University. 



The work here reported on was carried out with the aid of grants 



from the Development Fund and the University of Aberdeen through 



the Joint Committee on Research in Animal Nutrition of the University 



of Aberdeen and North of Scotland College of Agriculture. In the 



work we have been assisted by Mr John Innes, B.Sc, M.B., who has 



carried out most of the examinations of bees for the presence of Nosema, and 



' This constitutes a preliminary report, intlicatiiig the trend of the results so far 

 accomplished. Although the number of experiments is not large, stress is laid upon the 

 fact that they are the only ones on record in this country which have been made upon full 

 stocks of bees living under natural conditions. Further experiments are in progress, the 

 results of which will be recorded in a subsequent report. 



[Reprinted from the " Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh," Vol. xx., pp. $3-61,'] 



