f^rift 



I , K A N T N O R T N P. R K U T- T IT K K 



.Titjji:, J921 



;il)ieultural school, or a. iiiomiineut with a 

 suitable inscription, the same to stand over 

 the last remains of him who left his charm 

 and impress on the beekeeping world. 



Unfortunately, there has been drive after 

 drive to help the poor and the starving in 

 Europe, in Armenia, and in China. There 

 have been various war drives until the pock- 

 ets of many of us have been drained almost 

 dry. These were all worthy. If this Dr. Mil- 

 ler memorial fund could have been raised 

 at any other time, it would have been bet- 

 ter, of course. Bat the thought that the 

 committee kept in view is not to ask for 

 large sums, but a fund which the beekeepers 

 of the world feel that they can give, large 

 or small. No gift will be too small. So far 

 subscriptions have been coming in in sums 

 all the way from fifty cents to a dollar. If 

 we can not establish the Dr. Miller chair of 

 apiculture at some college, we can provide a 

 library or a monument. 



We hope, therefore, that those of our 

 readers who have not contributed to the 

 Miller memorial fund will take advantage 

 of the opportunity to do so right now be- 

 fore 3'ou forget it, by sending in whatever 

 amounts j'ou feel you can afford to give. 

 June 10 has been suggested as the day, and 

 we hope, therefore, that the responses will 

 be prompt and liberal. 



IN OUR last issue, page 265, we referred to 

 the fact that the cause of the Isle of Wight 

 disease had been 

 The Isle of Wight d i s c o v ered by 

 Disease, Again. John R e n n i e/, 

 Phillip Bruce 

 White, and Elsie J. Harvey. Since last 

 issue we have taken time to go thru their 

 paper very carefully. We regard it as one 

 of the most valuable that has been put out 

 during the present decade — valuable, of 

 course, to our cousins in Great Britain 

 where the disease is rampant, and valuable 

 to us in America, because, knowing the 

 cause, we can determine whether we have 

 anything of the kind here, and how to treat 

 it. From the reports we have received, we 

 regard it as one of the most serious diseases 

 of adult bees known to bee culture — yes, 

 possibly even more serious than either of 

 the brood diseases, bad as they are. While 

 at present the Isle of Wight disease is con- 

 fined entirely to Great Britain, there is no 

 knowing when the scourge may visit us, 

 altho it is to be hoped that repressive meas- 

 ures will prevent it from coming to our 

 shores. Every beekeeper should know 

 something of the cause; and for that rea- 

 son we are endeavoring to give our readers, 

 as far as our space will permit, a brief sur- 

 vey of the contents of this paper. 



For many years the cause of this disease 

 was unknown. In 1912 and 191;! it was be- 

 lieved that it was due to a )>rotozoan, No,^eiiia 

 (tills; and this view was lield until 1920, 



when Drs. Rennie and White, and Elsie J. 

 Harvey of Great Britain (particularly the 

 last named), discovered that the primary 

 cause was not due to a protozoan or a bac- 

 terium, but to a parasite or a mite, Tarsone- 

 iiitis iroofU. This parasite, according to their 

 paper, published in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. LII, Part 

 4, attacks the bees thru the breathing ori- 

 fices. To quote exactly it ' ' occupies a very 

 restricted region in that part of the tracheal 

 system which has its origin at the anterior 

 thoracic spiracle. In a well-established case 

 of infection it will be found that, extending 

 inward from this spiracle on either side in- 

 differently, parasites in all stages of devel- 

 opment may be present in any part of this 

 portion of the respiratory system, whilst 

 the ill effects of their presence may be seen 

 not only in the region of occupation but in 

 the muscular tissue to which these extend. 

 * * * The primary parasitic invasion 

 takes place thru one or both of the first 

 pair of spiracular orifices, and apparently 

 thru these alone. ' ' 



In sjjeaking of bees obtained from Italy 

 and elsewhere. Dr. Rennie says: "In all, 

 several hundreds of bees were obtained from 

 this source. These, along with others ob- 

 tained direct from Italy were searched for 

 the presence of Tarsonemus. The result of 

 these examinations was that the bees were 

 found entirely free from the parasite. The 

 evidence is so far satisfactory that it may 

 be accepted that Tarsonemus is not being 

 introduced to this country in Italian bees. 

 Smaller numbers of Dutch bees so imported 

 have also yielded on examination a similar 

 result. Bees in limited numbers have also 

 been obtained from Switzerland and from 

 North Ainerica, all of which were also free 

 from this parasite. ' ' On the question of 

 whether bees in England are more suscep- 

 tible to this disease. Dr. Rennie says again: 



' ' It has been suggested that British bees 

 of the present time are of a deteriorated 

 breed, and have lost resisting power, so 

 that Tarsonemus, a relatively non-patho- 

 genic parasite ordinarily, is able to breed 

 excessively. My provisional answer is that 

 other racial forms are relatively affected. 

 For example, Egyptian, Dutch, Punic, and 

 Italian bees can' l3e readily infected, and in 

 these Tarsonemus multiplies with disastrous 

 results, as in British bees. But the question 

 of the ability of a stock to survive a pro- 

 longed period of Tarsonemus infection is not 

 a simple one. Amongst other factors it in- 

 volves the question of relative fertility of 

 particular queens, as well as that of indi- 

 vidual tolerance of the parasite." 



Provisionally it may be hoped that 

 there is no disease of the kind here. The 

 nearest to it that is found here is what is 

 known as the disappearing disease. But this 

 has one marked characteristic or symptom 

 that is decidedly different from any found 

 in the Isle of Wight disease. Colonies in- 

 fected with the latter seldom recover with- 



