1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



317 



disease, or May disease. Whether 

 this Tarsonemus has anything to do 

 with our troubles, on this side of the 

 ocean, will certainly be ascertained 

 before long by our scientists. Alean- 

 while it is well to understand fully 

 what the Tarsonemus is. We there- 

 fore insert below a very interesting 

 letter from Dr. John Anderson, of 

 the North of Scotland College, who 

 kindly sent us two articles concern- 

 ing this matter, the gist of which had 

 already been inserted on page 24, 

 coming to us from Mr. A. H. E. Wood, 

 one of the parties to the discovery. — 

 Editor. 



"So far as I can learn, there is no 

 doubt whatever that the Aberdeen 

 workers have discovered a new para- 

 site of the bee, and they believe that 

 it IS the actual cause of what has 

 been called Isle-of-Wight disease. 



The new parasite is a mite, a crea- 

 ture with eight legs, classified with 

 spiders, scorpions and creatures like 

 that in the Clajs Arachnida. The 

 most familiar e.xample of the type is 

 the mite frequently found in cheese. 

 Another type causes the disease 

 known as itch. About half of man- 

 kind harbor a type of mite in the skin 

 of the nose. It is called Demodex, 

 and is of no consequence. 



Braula caeca, commonly found 

 clinging to the hairs of bees — fre- 

 quently on the queen — is higher up 

 in the scale, being an insect like the 

 bee itself. But Dr. Rennie showed 

 us, in London, a photo of another 

 mite about the same size as Braula 

 and very like it in appearance, which 

 they have found in much the same 

 situation as Braula. This mite is also 

 new to science, and we shall have to 

 be on the lookout for it. Dr. Rennie 

 thinks it is often mistaken for Braula. 

 We shall be able to distinguish, for 

 Braula, the insect, has only 6 legs, 

 while the mite will have 8. 



The new creature, Tarsonemus 

 wxjodi, is of such a size that only one 

 pair 'O'f the thoracic spiracles of the 

 bee can admit it. On this account it 

 is confined to quite a small part of 

 the breathing system of the bee, but 

 that is a rather important part. The 

 workers state that they have been 

 able to produce the special symp- 

 toms of Isle-of-Wight disease by 

 blocking these two spiracles with 

 wax. If that he really true, it will 



not be necessary to assume blood- 

 sucking, injury to the thracheae, pro- 

 duction of toxins, as Professor Thom- 

 son supposes. 



We have no definite information as 

 to how bees become infected, as to 

 whether combs, honey, and so forth, 

 convey the disease. Dr. Rennie says 

 it is very difficult to say when the 

 mite is really dead. Professor Thom- 

 son indicates some of the difficulties 

 of the new hypothesis. Either Tarso- 

 nemus was always a parasite of the 

 bee, or it was not. If it lived in the 

 bee prior to 1904, why did the bees 

 not "crawl" before that date? If it 

 entered the bee only in 1904, where 

 did it live before that?" 



FOLK LORE 



By E. G. LeStourgeon 



In reference to your editorial con- 

 cerning prayer for the stopping of 

 swarms and in particular to the sug- 

 gestion that the red clover corolla is 

 made too deep for the honeybee be- 

 cause of its persistence in working on 

 Sunday, would say that it is an inter- 

 esting coincidence that among the 

 negroes of the South there is a folk- 

 lore belief that the honeysuckle nec- 

 tar is inaccessible to the bees for the 

 same reason. The plant is popularly 

 supposed to secrete the greatest 

 amount of nectar for its size, com- 

 pared to any other plant. It seems 

 that the bees persisted in working 

 upon it on the Sabbath even after the 

 matter had been called to their atten- 

 tion and as they persisted in doing 

 so, the anger of the Lord deepened it 

 as a punishment to the bees. 



Saliarian queen brought from the Sahara. 400 

 miles south of Oran, Algeria. 



BEES OF AFRICA. NO. 2 



By Ph. J'. Baldensperger 

 Thousands of years ago, says Plato, 

 there existed a country known as 

 "Atlantis." The Egyptian priest re- 

 lated the story. Modei-n writers have 

 denied or affirmed the possible exist- 

 ence, in former times, of a continent 

 between Africa and America, some 

 traces of which still linger in the 

 Canary Islands, the Azores, etc. Oth- 

 ers hold that the Sahara is really that 

 legendary counti-y. In this case, the 

 Saharian bee may be a relic of that 

 sunken continent, and the Cyprian 

 bee may have been brought by early 

 settlers from Atlantis. The Saharian 

 yellow bee is founJ all along the Sa- 

 harian borders, where a few honey 

 plants still linger, honey plants all 

 more or less armed with formidable 

 thorns (as in Texas. — Editor), to de- 

 fend themselves against camels, gi- 

 raffes, gazelles and other herbivorous 

 animals. 



On account of so many difficulties, 

 the poor Berbers, as thorny and flesh- 

 less as the plants, are excusable for 

 refusing to sell the few hives which 

 they possess. I visited many oases 

 and, fearing to come home without 

 bees, I put all of the little remnant of 

 Oriental wit which I still possess to 

 contribution. I called upon caids and 

 leaders and spoke to them about 

 peace and war — to begin with ques- 

 tions which interested them more 



than the bees for which I had come. 

 A Moroccan Mograbin, in his beauti- 

 ful red and blue mantel, led me to a 

 venerable caid, who took me in and 

 showed me the "medaille militaire" 

 which he had received from the 

 French Government for his services 

 during the war. It looked very im- 

 posing on his white "burnous" — the 

 long mantel which the North Africans 

 invariably wear. Having invited me 

 to a cup of tea, made in a Russian 

 samovar, we sat on sumptuous cush- 

 ions and carpets, and talked about 

 interesting subjects while sipping 

 finely prepared tea. Caid Bushta was 

 sori-y he could not help me to a swarm 

 of bees, but assured me that with pa- 

 tience and roaming about the black 

 mountains in the distance, I could get 

 some. Perhaxjs I might have gone 

 some other time, but I had no time to 

 lose, and one of the French command- 

 ing officers warned me not to go so 

 far: "II y a toujours des individus 

 qu'on ne connait pas. N'y allez pas." 

 (There are always some people whom 

 you do not know. Do not go.) 



However, I played what I thought 

 to be my last card, when I went as far 

 as the entrance of the wild gorges or. 

 mountain passes of the Great Atlas. 

 I had read somewhere that very rudi- 

 mentary engravings representing ani- 

 mals were lound on the pink-colored 

 rocks of the Algerian-Moroccan fron- 

 tier. With some difficulty, for I had 

 no guide that day, I found rocks with 

 inscriptions, not over a few centuries 

 old, principally names of conquerors, 

 and neglecting to give dates. But on 

 two immense blocks, an ancient sculp- 

 tor had engraved two strange figures. 

 One represented an elephant with a 

 tusk as big as its legs (the sculptor 

 was evidently no Rodin.) The trunk 

 appeared to be raised to gather leaves 

 from some lofty tree. But here is 

 where a beekeeper's imagination may 

 work. The other engraving showed 

 also some shape of an elephant with- 

 out a head, but with two Greek skeps 

 on its back, and a warrior near him, 

 apparently ready to shoot any sup- 

 posed enemy, in defending his booty. 

 We know that elephants existed in 

 north Africa, in Carthagenian days, 

 and when Hannibal went over to 

 Spain he had elephants with him. 



Back again to civilization, and trav- 

 eling on the train, I was told by an 

 Arab employe that he knew of a man 

 by the name of Abdel Wahah, who 

 owned bees. I left the train at that 

 station. Sitti Sahrya Safra, and went 

 to this man at once. I greeted him, 

 calling him by name. He was aston- 

 ished, and when I told him that I 

 wanted to see his bees he was still 

 more .istonished. He sent a man with 

 nie.to look at the bees, but he refused 

 to let me have any. I stopped a mo- 

 ment, reflecting. Then I walked up 

 to him and said: "Give me your 

 hand." Then I recited the first chap- 

 ter of the Coran, which he lecited af- 

 ter me, and when we said Amen, he 

 called out: "Sahh! You are a good 

 man and you shall have the bees." 



Without losing any time, I took my 

 box and went to his walled-in apiary. 

 I opened the end of one hive, smoked 

 the bees and cut out four combs. 



