Bee Disease Control 7 



color varies. It is sometimes gray, some specimens are a decided 

 yellow, others have a yellow spot near the head and still others 

 are light brown. 



Eventually the dead larvje dry down and form irregular scales, 

 which may be found on any wall of the cell or on the base. 

 These scales are not difficult of removal. The larvae alifected 

 with this disease also exhibit this irregularity. Sometimes both 

 ends of the larva will be toward the base of the cell or both 

 toward the cell mouth. This irregularity of the position of 

 diseased larvae and scales is one of the most important symptoms 

 in determining this disease. 



The rotting larvae present a jelly-like mass and when a stick 

 is inserted and withdrawn there is rarely any pronounced ropi- 

 ness, as in American foulbrood. In his description of this disease 

 Phillips'' says : "There is little or no odor to European foul- 

 brood, but sometimes a sour odor is present, which reminds one 

 of yeast fermentation." In the writer's experience the odor 

 accompanying this disease, particularly in advanced cases, is 

 often so intense as to be readily detected several feet from the 

 diseased hive. There is nothing to which it can be readily likened, 

 although there is a slight resemblance to the odor of earwax 

 (cerumen). Sometimes this odor is slight and scarcely notice- 

 able, even when the infected comb is held close to the face. 

 This condition, however, is quite exceptional. 



In the examination of over i,ooo colonies infected with Euro- 

 pean foulbrood, the writer hais found about six which did not 

 have the characteristic odor so marked as to be easily recognized. 

 Therefore, it would seem that the odor symptom is fairly con- 

 stant under New Jersey conditions. 



Diseased combs when removed from the hive lose their pro- 

 nounced odor within a few days. This disease does most damage 

 in the spring and early summer. Drone larvae are attacked quite 

 as readily as worker larvse, and queen larvae are also often 

 affected. 



Italian bees show a higher resistance to this disease than do 

 blacks or hybrids. It is common to find a large percentage of 



ePhillips, E. F., 1913. The treatment of bee diseases. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Farmers' Bui. 442. 



