240 



to talk about immunity in this connection. The bee 

 experts should rather direct their energies to the pro- 

 duction of vigorous and fertile rqces as the best natural 

 antidote to acarine infestation. 



It is also a matter to be regretted that the term 

 " carrier " was ever introduced in relation to adult 

 bee disease. No evidence has ever been brought forward 

 to show that bees are capable of transmitting any 

 disease whilst they themselves are free from its normal 

 pathological accompaniments. What has been termed 

 a " carrier " in Acarine disease is simply an infested 

 bee which is nevertheless able to fiy and work but 

 which possesses no individual immunity from the 

 disease. Every infested bee is a carrier in this sense 

 in the earlier period of attack, for they all pass through 

 a stage in which the presence of the disease cannot be 

 recognised apart from microscopic examination. This 

 has no reference to relative degrees of resistance which 

 may be characteristic of different races of bees. When 

 stocks having a percentage of such individuals are 

 " carrying on " and even yielding surplus stores, the 

 owner may possibly not appreciate the suggestion that 

 the colony is diseased. He inclines rather to favour 

 the counter proposition that his bees are " carriers " 

 or "immune." While I have already endeavoured to 

 make it clear that the subsequent history of such a 

 colony will be determined by a combination of factors, 

 the collapse of the stock eventually — more or less — 

 may be fairly rapid or it may be long delayed. But 

 experience shows us that the return either in bees or in 

 surplus stores is never so good as it would have been 

 had the stock been parasite free. (See further pp. 43-44.) 



