124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



more experienced, but have failed. To your 

 question, ' Do not queens cease, or almost 

 cease, to lay in badly infected colonies?' I 

 can say that they do. I have often noticed 

 that, when the strength first runs down, as it 

 often does, rapidly, the young brood is dis- 

 proportionately large ; later there is little 

 young brood. To your question, 'Do not hun- 

 dreds of nurse-bees die before they are of 

 field age (14 days) ? ' I shall have to reply 

 that I do not know. It is plain to me, how- 

 ever, that hundreds of mature bees die away 

 from the hive ; but whether young or old or 

 both I can not tell. As often the first indica- 

 tion of the disease is the observed check in 

 the honey-gathering. I have thought that, 

 probably, bees of all ages were affected. I 

 have removed hundreds of queens from popu- 

 lous colonies during the swarming season, but 

 there is never that rapid loss of strength no- 

 ticed in this disease, thus proving to me that 

 this depopulation must come from the loss of 

 flying bees and not entirely from diseased 

 brood. When swarms have been shaken on 

 foundation, and have carried the dise^.se with 

 them, I have noticed that many bees, nearly 

 mature, died in the cells, and but little, com- 

 paratively, of the younger (not yet sealed) 

 brood was affected. From this I have drawn 

 the conclusion, that perhaps the mature bees 

 were the ones first affected, and that by them 

 the disease was communicated to the brood ; 

 and when the contagion was strong, the brood 

 died early ; and when weak it lived to be older, 

 even to maturity. This conclusion is partly 

 speculative, and I have written it thinking it 

 might be suggestive to you." 



Mr. N. D. West, in a letter of Dec. 8, 1899, 

 gives the experience of a large honey-producer 

 which will be of interest here : 



" He shook the bees off the combs of 150 

 colonies, early in the season, when the disease 

 was at its worst stage. He extracted the hon- 

 ey, and made the combs into wax. This fall, 

 after the honey- flow was over, he had a great 

 many partlv filled sections he wished to have 

 finished. He placed these on twelve hives, 

 and fed the extracted honey from under the 

 hive ; and when the sections were completed 

 the bees had a fine lot of healthy brood. This 

 was so late in the season that no other brood 

 was in the yard. He intended to destroy the 

 twelve colonies as soon as his sections were 

 finished ; but I asked him to winter them and 

 watch the results next spring. I think he 

 said he would do so. However, in his apiary 

 I do not think the disease had advanced far 

 enough to show the coffee color very much." 



LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS. 



After thoroughly examining the specimens 

 sent by Messrs. York and Root I received from 

 Mr. N. D. West, New York State Bee Inspect- 

 or, two specimens — No. 1 and No. 2. These had 

 the same general appearance as the first speci- 

 mens, and proved the same microscopically. 

 None of these were foul brood or pickled 

 brood. 



No. 1.— [West.] Marked ''bad b rood. '^ New 

 bright comb, containing eggs and brood from 

 larvae just hatched, to full-grown bees emerg- 

 ing from the cells. Some appeared to have 



died from disease, and others from want of 

 food. The eggs were free from all signs of 

 disease — no germs. Some were laid in cells 

 containing remnants of the old dried mass, 

 which, in some instances, extended the entire 

 depth and on all sides of the cell, and was of 

 a light brown color, sometimes dark brown, 

 less frequently jet black. In some instances 

 the mass had been removed by the bees or the 

 liquid substances evaporated, leaving only the 

 cocoons, the skin of the pupa or larva, as the 

 case might be. Young larvae in these cells 

 were affected, and even larvse only a few days 

 old would show the characteristic dark spot 

 on some part of the body, being the first sign 

 of the disease to the unaided eye. This show- 

 ed more plainly on older brood that had been 

 fed the rich nitrogenous chyle mixed with pol- 

 len. Honey was also found in these foul cells. 

 A few small particles of pollen were found, 

 but these were free from infection. Cultures 

 were made, and Bacillus Diilii* and Bacillus 

 l/ioracis'f were found, in all cultures. From 

 some specimens cultures were made showing 

 almost pure cultures of Bacillus 7nilii, the 

 Bacillus thoracis being entirely absent. Spec- 

 imens sent by Messrs. York and Root showed 

 the same forms. In some of the culture-tubes 

 a species of fungus (Mucor, Fig. 3) grew lux- 

 uriantly — unimportant, as it is found on de- 

 caying matter, both animal and vegetal, and 

 not parasitic on a living host. 



No. 2 — [West.] Marked ''different vicini- 

 ty y Old black comb, brood of all ages, no 

 eggs, no honey, no pollen, few cells capped, 

 with mature bees dead and rotten ; some of 

 the larvae showed signs of disease ; cultures 

 made from these developed altogether Bacil- 

 lus iiiilii : no Bacillus thoracis found. 



Oct. 22, 1899, two more specimens received 

 from Mr. West, No. 3 and No. 4. 



No. 3. — [West.] Marked " Boomhower.'''' 

 Comparatively new comb ; wired ; one cell 

 contained a small amount of fresh pollen — 

 not infected ; a few cells filled with honey, 

 some in foul cells, a few cells containing black 

 rotten masses of a decidedly watery consis- 

 tency, which, under the microscope, appeared 

 oily or milk-like ; also a few pupae which have 

 dried by evaporation of the liquid substances, 

 leaving them without discoloration or much 

 change in shape ; not settling down to the 

 lower side of the cell as is common ; few of 

 these showed signs of disease. There were 

 also found in open cells, dark brown heavy 

 masses much like those found in foul brood, 

 yet not so dark, so adherent to the combs, nor 

 so hard and glue-like, but drier and more 

 granular. The heavy dark masses contained 

 Bacillus inilii, and many species of fungi — 

 [Fig. 5], latter not important. '.^^^^,^.J^^^ 



No. 4.— [West.] Marked "M. Rickardr 

 Comb nearly new ; no eggs, no larvae ; over 

 half the area scattering sealed brood. Many 

 pupae showed no signs of disease, and seem- 

 ed to have died from natural causes — -absence 

 from the hive, environments, etc. In the 



* Bacillus milii. n. s. So named from its resem- 

 blance to millet seed. [Fig. 1.] 



'\ Bacillus thoracis, n. s. Found in the thorax, and 

 in the air-passages, spiracles, etc. [Fig. 2.] 



