231 



tunity to become infested) queenlessness would pro- 

 bably be a feature of acarine disease in a proportion of 

 cases. It is probable also that the natural constitu- 

 tional difference which enables queens, normally, to 

 live very much longer than workers and drones enables 

 them to survive also for a longer period while infested 

 with acarine parasites. 



Dead Injested Bees within the Hive. 



A very large number of examinations of dead bees 

 infested during life with this particular mite, Tarsonemus 

 woodi, have been made, and all the evidence obtained 

 has gone to show that the period of survival of the 

 parasite under such circumstances is comparatively 

 brief. It is usually possible, even upon very old bees 

 which may aJso have become dry and brittle, to 

 demonstrate an infection by the pathological condition 

 of the remains of the tracheal system, and by the 

 presence of dead mites, but I have not been able to 

 find living examples in such bees. Consequently, I do 

 not think that such bees are likely to be dangerous to 

 healthy bees from the point of view of agents of infec- 

 tion with Acarine disease. There is a possibility that 

 the eggs left in the tracheae of dead mites are capable 

 of prolonged survival, but little probability of their 

 transference into the tracheae of the living bee. 



The whole of the earlier experimental investigations 

 which were carried out with other workers, in which 

 healthy bees were placed in hives previously occupied 

 by infested bees, yielded negative results as regards 

 infestation, and later, I have failed to find living Tarsone- 

 mus woodi on frames or other parts of hives apart from 

 the living bee. The evidence on the whole points 

 strongly to this disease being entirely a contagious one 

 carried by the living bee. 



(c) Outside the Hive. 



Foragers. 



It has been clearly established that bees infested with 

 mites continue for a time to forage. They can fly, 

 gather pollen and nectar, and carry out the usual duties 

 of a mature bee. Whilst they are doing this, e.g., visit- 



