584 Transactions of tJie Society. 



swarms of very minute bodies which appear under a 1/12 in. as 

 seen in fig. 1, and which dance in the field with a pronounced 

 Brownian movement. These have been supposed to be micrococci, 

 in consequence of some reported experiments made in Germany 

 about ten years since by Dr. Schonfeld, of whose account of 

 the same it is desirable here to give only a very short summary. 

 He states that having procured some foul-broody matter (i. e. the 

 brown scales mentioned previously), he by a simple contrivance 

 aspirated air which he passed over the " foul-broody " mass 

 through cotton wool, which then he found full of micrococci. But 

 since he made presumably no attempt at staining, this state- 

 ment, I submit, can only be received with great reserve. He adds 

 that this cotton wool spread over the cells of a comb in which larvae 

 were advancing, the latter took the disease and died, with their 

 bodies filled with micrococci. That lastly, having infected the 

 larva of Musca vomitoria, it not only died crammed with micro- 

 cocci, but that these micrococci communicated foul brood to pre- 

 viously healthy larvae in the bee-hive. These experiments were 

 accepted as so conclusive and satisfactory that for ten years they 

 were quoted as authoritative, but many observations which could 

 not be reconciled with commonly received ideas respecting this 

 malady induced me in June last to attempt to repeat Schonfeld's 

 experiments, with such additions or modifications as might seem 

 most suitable to my purpose. This attempt has left me in intense 

 bewilderment so far as any possible explanation of the causes of the 

 errors into which Schonfeld undoubtedly fell. My results showed 

 that in foul-broody matter no micrococci necessarily existed ; the 

 disease could not be at all easily communicated to Musca vomitoria ; 

 but that every dead larva of this fly contained micrococci in- 

 numerable, and that when larvae of Apis mellifica were artificially 

 infected with " foul-broody matter " the bacillus nature of the 

 disease was incontestable, while no micrococci, and not even the 

 bacillus spore which Schonfeld had taken for a micrococcus, could 

 be discovered. The confidence with which I, at the outset, left 

 the old ideas which Schonfeld had promulgated was increased by 

 the helpful interest which Mr. G. F. Dowdeswell took in my in- 

 vestigation, and for whose suggestions I now have the pleasure of 

 returning my thanks. Taking a small quantity of the juices of a 

 healthy larva and examining under a cover-glass, one is presented 

 with the appearance of fig. 2. Fat-globules are numerous, whilst 

 here and there we note the large white blood-disks, and scattered 

 throughout may be seen minute globular particles with lively 

 Brownian movements. But if a speck of coffee-coloured "foul- 

 broody matter," as previously hinted, be similarly treated, we find 

 neither fat-globules, blood-cells, nor molecular base, but observe 

 amidst the remains of broken-down tracheae the field crowded with 



