200 



THE PRACTICAL BEE GUIDE. 



trembling' motion associated with paralysis (334) was not ob- 

 served by j\li. Imnis. The disease is confined to adult bees, 

 and does not appear to affect the brood. The distension 

 referred to is caused by yellowish-brown material filling the 

 colon and containing an enormous number of iJoUen grains. 

 Dr. Maiden found plague-like bacilli in the chyle stomach of 

 diseased bees, and regarded these as the cause of the disease, 

 but he had not fully established their relationship, as he had 

 been unable to demonstrate them in every case. In his opinion 

 death is piobably caused by mal-nutrition, possibly combined 

 with the absorption of a specific poison, and of the products of 

 decomposition in the colon. Apparently the Isle of Wight 

 Disease cannot be identified with paralysis, dysentery, or " May 

 pest," however closely related it may be to those diseases. In 

 igoQ the disease was reported as having shown itself in Buck- 

 ingliamshire, Hampshire, and other English counties. No 

 method of treatment having proved effectual, in 1908 British 

 and Irish beekeepers contributed to a fund to re-stock the 

 Island, and sixty healthy stocks were distributed there ; but, 

 at the date of writing, practical and experienced beekeepers on 

 the spot report that the experiment is unlikely to prove suc- 

 cessful. 



36t. Difftrential Diagnosis — 



