AMERICAN FOUL BROOD 207 



the onslaught without great losses. It usually happens, however, 

 that disease has gained considerable headway in the apiary be- 

 fore its owner is aware of the nature of the difficulty. Especially 

 is this true when disease puts in an appearance for the first time 

 in a locality that has been free from it. The journals frequently 

 recount the experience of some unfortunate who has suffered 

 heavy losses in this manner. The writer, in the capacity of 

 State inspector of apiaries, sees such cases very frequently. 

 Instances have come to his attention where the losses amounted 

 to many thousands of dollars, whereas had the owner realized 

 the nature of the trouble on its first appearance it could have 

 been checked without difficulty. 



AMERICAN FOUL BROOD 



Much confusion has resulted in the similarity of names of 

 the two common diseases. It is unfortunate that some entirely 

 different name was not applied to one or the other. While Euro- 

 pean foul brood has long been known, in some localities, under 

 the name of " black brood," the name was not appropriate and 

 it has given way to the accepted title of European foul brood. 

 There is a decided difference in the appearance and in the action 

 of the two forms, so much so that there need be little difficulty 

 in recognizing the difference in advanced stages. In early stages 

 it is sometimes a little difficult to determine which form one may 

 have to deal with, and in that case it is well to cut out a piece of 

 comb containing the dead larvae and, wrapping it securely, send 

 it to the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. By means of a microscopic examination they 

 can readily determine the nature of the difficulty. 



American foul brood has long been present in this country 

 and when we hear the term " foul brood " we naturally infer that 

 American foul brood is meant (Figs. 102 and 103). It is also 

 called " ropy foul brood " because of the peculiar ropy charac- 

 teristic of the dead tissue at a certain stage. The larvae are 

 usually attacked at about the time the cells are capped and most 



