THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



81 



comes broken by their sudden ac- 

 tivity. Now, if tlie air is still and 

 clear, many may venture forth ; but, 

 soon chilling, return to the hive 

 (if able) and load their sacs too 

 heavily with cold food, reducing 

 yet their animal heat and over- 

 whelming their digestive ability, 

 so that the mass is but partially 

 digested. Now, its presence in 

 that condition soon amounts to a 

 chemical and mechanical irritant, 

 inducing congestion and a pouring 

 forth of the bodily fluids inio the 

 sac and intestines which, by the 

 combined distension, produces vio- 

 lent contractions or spasms (as in 

 colic of the higher animals) the 

 outcome of which is to rid the sys- 

 tem of a poison which, if successful, 

 constitutes the flux. If, hovvever, 

 nature fails in her efforts at the 

 riddance it kills, through the re- 

 peated torturing cramps, by ex- 

 hausting the already lessened vital 

 powers, and death ends all. In 

 case it is passed off, as is mostly 

 noticed, such an exhaustive evac- 

 uation is generally followed by 

 collapse or sinking of the vital 

 energies, proportionate to the du- 

 ration and intensity of the attack 

 which, if notbelowthe recuperative 

 powers, tends to recovery ; other- 

 wise death or permanent injury 

 (which are the same thing in the 

 hive) I'esults sooner or later. 



Meddlesomeness, B. This acts 

 by producing fear which, with the 

 bees, induces self-preseivation 

 prompting them to overload the sac 

 with a mass of cold food greater 

 than they can either warm or digest, 

 which if not soon regurgitated, 

 produces all the effects enumerated 

 under (A). Fear (C) is commonly 

 a result of (B) ; its sudden seizure, 

 however, of most animals, often 

 produces panics or stampede, which 

 will often act more promptly than 

 a purgative can ; among which man 

 is not even excepted. 



Queenless7iess, D. This tends to 

 9 



induce over excitation through 

 alarm, consternation and fear, re- 

 sulting in the same abnormal 

 condition and injurious result to 

 the colony. This is the disease" as 

 it has presented itself to me in the 

 north and west as seen at the cellar, 

 clamp and summer stand and may 

 exist both inside and outside the 

 hive, but way down south where it 

 never occurs and (bees gather stores 

 all the year around according to 

 some) the beekeepers' Utopia is, it 

 has presented itselfto me in the same 

 old sjnuptoms, but in a much mild- 

 er form and with disaster in trifling 

 proportions, but it is only by gath- 

 ering data in differing localities 

 that we arrive at the most certain 

 conclusions ; hence the value of a 

 description of it from here in lat- 

 itude 29° and the circumstances 

 under which it occurs with us. And 

 first, it takes place outside the hive 

 generally (the exception I have seen 

 but once, and in a queenless colo- 

 ny that was worried by robbers 

 and had a fertile worker), and oc- 

 curs between the foraging grounds 

 and the apiary which some observ- 

 ers might think was a cleansing 

 flight such as is often seen on fine 

 days during winter at the north. 

 This, hovvever, is induced almost 

 invariably by cold winds laden with 

 moisture, the latter augmenting 

 and rendering more depressing the 

 effect of the former. It should be 

 known that a reduced temperature, 

 to act most injuriously, must be 

 applied not when the body is hot 

 (as is commonly supposed) but 

 when the body is coo//nf/ after being 

 heated from whatever cause (as in 

 labor or undue excitement). The 

 way in which it acts appears to be 

 in this wise to me. Supplies being 

 desired and within their range, 

 they sally out as they did, say 

 yesterday ; their flight is rapid un- 

 til su[)plies are reached, then they 

 are actively engaged near the earth 

 in securing their treasures ; the ex- 



