162 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTEALASIA 



especially, until almost the whole swarm is dead in front 

 of the hive. Colonies with young queens have a hard 

 struggle, but with close attention may be broiight through 

 the spring. Should a good flow of honey come on, the 

 virulence of the disease diminishes, finally disappearing 

 with the advent of summery weather. The bees dying 

 contract into a characteristic "pinched up" position. 



Microscopic examination of dead bees from some of 

 these colonies revealed the presence of large numbers of 

 spores of Nosema apis, but the same results are reported 

 from examinations of live bees taken from hives that 

 have never shown abnormal mortality. Recent investi- 

 gation proved the existence of the spores in almost every 

 apiary that submitted "subjects" for examination. Bees 

 that behaved normally had as many spores as some that 

 died; colonies badly diseased one year were entirely free 

 the following season. So there is "nothing proved" up 

 to the present. Damp hive surroundings are certainly 

 conducive to this disease but nothing appears to be of 

 much curative value. Breeding queens from stock that 

 do not show the disease is the best line of defence, by this 

 means producing a resistant strain. However, before 

 any disease can make headway vitality must first be at 

 a low ebb. 



Nosema apis has been described as the primal cause 

 of dysentery, but this is not proved by scientific research. 

 Bees affected with "nosema" behave at times the same 

 way as those suffering from "dwindle." They crawl 

 slowly out of the hive and "hop" about the apiary, 

 climbing grass stalks and other elevated points. 

 Grenerally the bees look ' ' sleepy, ' ' swollen, and somewhat 

 oily-looking. Combs from affected colonies may be used 

 without danger in healthy hives, for this has been proved 

 by experiment. The author has tried spraying the brood- 

 combs with salicylated syrup for spring dwindling, and 

 the colonies certainly looked better, but as a good flow 

 of honey followed the application of the spray a definite 

 opinion could not be formed. 



