474 DISEASES OF BEES. 



its effects mainly by the dying of the brood, but the de- 

 nomination is improper, for the brood is not alone diseased. 



787. Dr. G. F. White, of the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 at Washington, has lately described two kinds of foul brood, 

 which he denominates "bacillus alvei" (after Cheshire and 

 Cheyne) commonly called "black brood," and "bacillus 

 larvse," the more malignant kind, which is not so easily pro- 

 duced in cultures by bacteriologists, since Mr. White was 

 unable to produce it in the common cultures, a bouillon made 

 of bee-larvae being necessary. The first he denominates "Euro- 

 pean foul-brood" because it was first described in Europe, 

 the second "American foul-brood" because it was first de- 

 scribed by himself in America, but both kinds evidently exist 

 in either hemisphere. The name "bacillus"! means "a stick" 

 and is apphed to both diseases because the germs of the dis- 

 ease are imperceptible sticks which break successively into 

 several parts, every one of which forms a colony of spores, 

 that pass through divers shapes before developing into new 

 bacilli. We can judge of the promptness of their reproduc- 

 tion, and of their minuteness, when we read in Cheshire, that 

 a dead larva frequently contains as many as one billion of 

 these spores. (38). 



788. Black brood or "bacillus alvei" of Cheshire and 

 Cheyne being the lesser of the two diseases will be described 

 first. It has been quite fully mentioned by Dr. Phillips, in 

 Circular No. 79 of the Bureau of Entomology, to which we 

 refer the student. This disease has been quite prevalent in 

 New York and other eastern states. 



DESCRIPTION OF BLACK-BROOD. 



The brood dies a little earlier than in the American foul- 

 brood, a comparatively small percentage of it being ever 

 capped, the diseased larvas which are covered having sunken 

 or perforated cappings. A small yellow spot near the head 

 of the larva is the first sign, at death it turns yellow, then 

 black. Some of the dead and dried larvee are removed by 



^Bacillus, plural bacilli, from the Latin, o stick. 



