40<i 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



Fig. 4.— American foul-brood comb, showing irregular patches of sunken cappings and scales, 

 sition of the comb indicates the best way to view the scales. (Original.) 



The po- 



foul brood (Fig. 2, c, g,j). The earliest in- 

 dication of the disease is a slight yellow or 

 gray discoloration and uneasy movement of 

 the larva in the cell. The larva loses its 

 well-rounded, opaque appearance, and be- 

 comes slightly translucent, so that the tra- 

 chte may become prominent (Fig. 5, 6), giv- 

 ing the lar\ip a clearly segmented ap])ear- 

 ance. The lar\a is usually llattened against 

 the base of the cell, but 'may turn so that 

 the ends of the larva are to the rear of the 

 cell (Fig. o, p), or may fall away from the 

 base (Fig. 5, f, g, I) . Later the color changes 

 to a decided yellow or gray, and the translu- 

 cency is lost (Fig. 5, q, h). 

 The yellow color may be 

 taken as the chief charac- 

 teristic of this disease. The 

 dead larva ajjpears as a 

 moist, somewhat collajised 

 mass, giving the api)ear- 

 ance of being melted. 

 When the remains have 

 become almost dry (Fig. 

 5, c) the trache* some- 

 times become conspicu- 

 ous again, this time by re- 



taining their shape, while the rest of the 

 body content dries around them. Finally 

 all that is left of the larva is a grayish- 

 brown scale against the base of the cell 

 {Fig. 5, /, \h), or a shapeless mass on the 

 lower side wall if the larva did not retain its 

 normal position (Fig. 5, /?, o). Very few 

 scales are black. The scales are not ad- 

 hesive, but are easily removed, and the 

 bees carry out a great many in their efforts 

 to clean house. 



Decaying larvip which have died of this 

 disease are usually not ropy as in American 

 foul brood, but a slight ropiness is sometimes 



Fig. 5.— European foul brood: o, j. k. normal sealed cells: ft. c. d. e. g. L I. vi. p. q, larvie affected by dis- 

 ease: normal larvae at age attacked by disease: f, h. n. o. dried-down larva? or scales. Three times natural 

 size. (Original.) 



