126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



No. 1. — No eggs, no brood ; plenty of pol- 

 len, honey, and infected syrup ; several per- 

 fect bees examined ; nothing found to indi- 

 cate disease or infection. Their stomachs 

 contained pollen from flowers just out of bloom 

 (composite). 



No. 2. — No eggs, no larvae, about thirty cells 

 of sealed brood containing dead, black, young, 

 nearly matured bees ; flowers gone; rainy and 

 cold weather — temperature 40° F.; a pollen- 

 like, liquid, acid excrement voided as the bees 

 leave the hive. No examination was made of 

 these droppings — evidently a ferment in the ali- 

 mentary canal. Over fifty slides were examin- 

 ed from these dead bees ; all contained Bacil- 

 lus inilii. 



Dec. 20, bees again examined. They look 

 black and sleek, ragged wings, and much dis- 

 couraged ; no brood in either hive ; plenty of 

 stores ; queens present ; estimated less than 

 half the original number of bees. 

 CONCLUSIONS. 



Here conclude my investigations, which 

 have been carefully conducted ; although un- 

 der disadvantages as to season, etc., they have 

 in a great measure been satisfactory. Many 

 points of vital interest have been made clear, 

 while others of equal importance are necessa- 

 rily obscure. It is clearly not foul brood. It 

 is clearly not pickled brood. It is clearly 

 something new. It is apparently a disease of 

 the pupa stage. The infection is clearly not 

 in the pollen— not due to a fungus but due to 

 bacteria. 



All diseases, in animal and vegetal life, are 

 due to the results of parasitic invasion — some 

 by their mechanical presence, some by the fer- 

 ments produced in the body, and in plants by 

 changes in or taking from them their life 

 juices, causing starvation and immature 

 growth. 



In any given case of rotten brood, dead from 

 freezing, starvation, or other causes, being al- 

 lowed to remain in the cells, much of the poi- 

 son generated, as well as the germs themselves, 

 or their spores, remain adherent to the sides 

 of the cell. These are like the seeds which 

 "fell on stony ground," and will not grow 

 until the proper soil, such as is furnished by 

 the rich nitrogenous substances supplied to 

 the brood by the nurse-bees is brought in con- 

 tact with them, when a luxuriant growth ob- 

 tains. This produces a fermenting, decom- 

 posing food unfit for the brood, and sets up a 

 ferment, a decomposition within the bodies of 

 the bees, thus destroying their lives. This 

 might happen to the host with any form of 

 parasitic life, either animal or vegetal. 



It might be said, speculatively, that the dis- 

 ease had its origin in starvation, and that in 

 some cases several putrefactive bacteria of 

 similar biological character were responsible 

 for this malady, which, when once started and 

 undisturbed, becomes as destructive as the 

 old-fashioned foul brood. The two germs iso- 

 lated having similar, or the same, biological 

 characteristics, especially an alkaline medium 

 in common, are both in a measure responsible 

 for this disease, and perhaps the variations, 

 the malignancy, etc., are due to modifications 

 by their combined action. It is, evidently, 



now due to a specific germ. Bacillus milii : 

 the other, perhaps purely accidental at first, 

 on account of its requiring more oxygen, is 

 now found in the thorax among the respirato- 

 ry organs. 



While it has not been clearly demonstrated 

 by facts, practically, it appears to be true that 

 perfect bees, especially nurse-bees, are injured 

 by the infection. 



DIFFERENTIAI, DIAGNOSIS. 



Foul brood, pickled brood, and black brood. 

 Foul brood, due to Bacillus alvei — a specific 

 bacterium. 



Pickled brood, due to Aspergillus pollinis — 

 a specific fungus. 



Black brood, due \.o Bacillus inilii ^ modified, 

 perhaps, by Bacillus thoracis, specific bacteria. 



Black brood may be introduced into a healthy 

 colony through infected food or infected 

 combs — combs from which the diseased brood 

 has been removed, or in which particles re- 

 main. The food for the young larvse, either 

 from its chemical reaction or from its lack of 

 nitrogenous substances, is not a suitable me- 

 dium for immediate growth of the germs ; 

 but when the chyle-like food is furnished the 

 older larvae, a chemical change in the food 

 produces a change in the liquids of the bee, 

 which become a suitable nutrient medium for 

 their rapid development and dissemination. 

 It would appear that, in some cases. Bacillus 

 thoracis was the cause of death, as the spira- 

 cles, or openings admitting air to the respira- 

 tory apparatus, were closed by the products of 

 decomposition or the result of it. In such 

 cases it is usually nearly matured bees that 

 are choked for want of air. These did not 

 show the discoloration or shapeless mass 

 which always obtains when Bacillus inilii is 

 found in the abdomen. This latter germ, 

 multiplying rapidly in the rich nutrient 

 medium of the alimentary tract, may de- 

 stroy younger brood than the former. It is 

 often found in other parts, and is certainly the 

 cause of the dark masses of rotten brood. 

 Both germs are found in the same comb, and 

 often in the same bee, thus insuring a mixed 

 infection. 



SYMPTOMS AND COURSE. 



Brood is usually attacked late in the larval 

 life, and dies during pupation, or later when 

 nearly mature and ready to come forth through 

 the chrysalis capping. Even after leaving 

 the cell they are so feeble that they fall from 

 the combs helpless. Most of the brood dies 

 after it is sealed. In this it is much like pick- 

 led brood, except that as much or more brood 

 dies in the late larval stage than in the pupa. 

 In foul brood, while brood of all ages dies, 

 yet more dies "at the ages of 6, 7, 8, and 9 

 days than at any other age" (author's Foul 

 Brood, p. 46), even before the rich chyle-like 

 food mixed with pollen is given, which is such 

 a necessary environment for pickled brood and 

 black brood. 



When the larvae show the first signs of this 

 disease, there appears a brownish spot on the 

 body, about the size of a pinhead. The larvae 

 may yet receive nourishment for a day or two; 

 but as the fermentation increases the brown- 



