AMERICAN FOULBROOD. D 



the healthy pupa for the first two days of this stage is easily ruptured. 

 Its tissues are soft and when crushed are creamlike in consistency. 

 During this period some care must be exercised in removing the 

 body intact. Soon the body wall toughens so that the form is then 

 maintained rather rigidly. 



SYMPTOMS 



Much of our knowledge concerning the symptoms of American 

 foulbrood has been gained through observations made by beekeepers 

 while practicing their profession. The apiary in which the disease 

 has been produced by experimental inoculations offers an oppor- 

 tunity to obtain a fairly complete picture of the disease. The 

 .present discussion of symptoms of the disorder is based upon observa- 

 tions made on the disease thus produced. During these studies 

 it has been possible to duplicate observations already made by 

 beekeepers on the disease as it occurs in nature and to make still 

 others. It is quite probable that a number of these additional obser- 

 vations could be duplicated on the disease in nature if a sufficiently 

 close study were made. 



GENERAL SYMPTOMS 



In American foulbrood the symptoms vary within wide limits. 

 The colony may or may not be noticeably weakened. If recently 

 infected the strength will not be affected appreciably, but if the 

 infection has been present for a considerable period the colony will 

 be weakened as a rule. Not infrequently during the course of the 

 disease the strength of the colony is diminished and death is the result. 

 Between these limits any degree of strength may be encountered. 



The occasional larva which dies of American foulbrood (PL VI, A) 

 before it reaches the age at which healthy larvae are capped rarely, 

 if ever, is capped after its death. Aside from these few larvae the 

 brood that dies' of American foulbrood does so in capped cells. 

 After death the caps are removed by the adult bee from a large 

 but varying proportion of cells containing dead brood (PI. Ill, 

 C, F, I; PI. V, B), although they are allowed to remain on a consid- 

 erable proportion of them (PL VI, C, E, F; PL II, B, C, E, F, H, I; 

 PL III, A, B, D, E, G, H; PL IV, B, C, E, F; PL V, A, C, D, E, F). 

 The irregular condition of the brood comb sometimes referred to 

 by beekeepers as the "pepperbox" appearance (PL I, A, B, C) is 

 due very largely to the presence of cells containing dead brood 

 which have been uncapped by the bees, occurring among similar cells 

 which have not been uncapped, together with cells containing 

 healthy brood either capped or uncapped. 



The caps over dead brood (PL II, B) appear in many instances 

 similar to those covering healthy brood. In many instances. 



