22 MONTANA BULLETIN 170 



followed during the summer. No parasites of this insect have ye1 

 been found. 



THE FOUL BROOD DISEASE OP HONEY BEES 

 In earlier reports of the State Entomologist attention was called 

 repeatedly to the need for a foul brood law. No provision was made 

 for the control of foul brood disease of bees until the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture law was set up and since that time it has been 

 impossible for that division of the state service to do all that the 

 commissioner has desired because of the lack of sufficient funds. The 

 situation has been getting steadily worse until there is now no honey- 

 producing area in the State which is not seriously diseased. No com- 

 mercial producer of honey can pursue his business without an added 

 heavy expense in labor and equipment in controlling American foul 

 brood. There can be no doubt that the beekeeping industry will labor 

 under this severe handicap through all time in the future unless 

 steps are taken to control the disease in a state-wide and thorough- 

 going manner. Moreover, this industry can not develop without 

 first bringing this disease under control. Individual beekeepers are 

 powerless. The assistance of the State is needed. 



The beekeepers are willing themselves to pay a part of this ex- 

 pense and have drawn up provisions for a law to be submitted to this 

 Legislature providing that they pay heavy license fees. It is the hope 

 of the beekeepers that the State will see fit to provide a fund equiv- 

 alent to that raised from the license fees, dollar for dollar. 



THE INSECT PESTS OF 1923 AND 1924 

 The Clover Mite (Bryobia pratensis Garman) appeared again in 

 1924 in the central portion of the State around houses, causing some 

 annoyance to residents by entering through the windows. The species 

 feeds on vegetation on the premises and simply gets into the houses 

 in connection with its wanderings. 



The Pear-Leaf Blister-Mite (Eriophyes pyri Pgst.) is now more 

 a pest of apple than of pear. It is prevalent in the fruit-growing 

 -■•lions in western Montana where it persists year after year unless 

 eradicated. It is one of the easiest orchard pests to control and the 

 Experiment Station has literature on the subject. 



The Red Spider (Tetranychus populi Koch), which was exceed- 

 ingly abundanl in Butte and in other cities in Montana in 1923, was 



