52 BULLETIN 780, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DYSENTERY. 



The term ''dysentery" as applied to a disorder among adult bees 

 is found in early beekeeping literature and is still encountered fre- 

 quently. The spotting of the hive wliich is so often referred to as a 

 symptom of dysentery and the absence of Nosema apis will serve to 

 distinguish it from Nosema-disease. 



PARALYSIS.' 



The term ''paralysis" has been widely used to designate a disease 

 of adult bees. In this country the name usually is applied to a con- 

 dition in which a large number of the bees of the affected colony die 

 suddenly with the result that often a large mass of them is found 

 in front of the hive. When this disorder is encountered usually only 

 a colony here and there in the apiary is affected. Whether or not 

 the disorder is infectious has not yet been determined. Time has 

 permitted the making of only a few preliminary experiments on this 

 disorder by the writer. The few which have been made and the 

 facts as observed by practical beekeepers indicate that if the disease 

 is infectious it is only slightly so. It is not likely, therefore, to 

 spread to any great extent in the apiary. It can be differentiated 

 from Nosema-disease by the absence of Nosema apis in the bees that 

 have died of the disorder, and in the bees remaining in the colony. 



SPRING DWINDLING. 



It is very probable that more than one disorder has been referred 

 to by the term "spring dwindling." When Nosema-disease was 

 encountered by the beekeepers in the past, most likely it was often 

 designated spring dwindling. Other conditions which are called 

 spring dwindling may be differentiated from Nosema-disease by the 

 fact that Nosema apis is present in Nosema-disease and is absent in 

 other conditions unless^ of course, a mixed infection is present. 



ISLE OP WIGHT DISEASE. 



There has been encountered in many parts of England a disorder 

 among adult bees from which heavy losses have been reported. The 

 condition was described in 1906 by the beekeepers on the Isle of 

 Wight, where apiaries had suffered heavy losses. 



BuUamore and Maiden (1912), of England, after studying the 

 symptoms of the disease, arrived at the conclusion "that no one 

 symptom is characteristic of the Isle of Wight disease, the only 

 essential feature being the death of large numbers of bees within or 



1 On account of the shaking or trembling movements sometime s manifested by individual bee s aflected, 

 the term "palsy" has been used to designate the condition. As this term describes more accurately a 

 marked symptom observed in the individual bee affected, it would seem to be a more appropriate one 

 than "paralysis." 



