§ IX.] DISEASES OF BEES. 307 



of wholesome food in the hive, and to well clean or to 

 change the floor-board, and so produce cleanliness. 



The more formidable, but happily less common, 

 malady of " foul brood " does not attack the bees them- 

 selves, but affects the larvae, by causing them to putrefy 

 in the cells, thus destroying all hope of the rising genera- 

 tion. Bees are exceedingly fond of their young, and 

 are greatly dispirited when their hives are in this plight. 

 In common with most pestilential disorders, no satis- 

 factory cause is assigned for its first appearance. Some 

 apiarians contend that "foul brood" is another name 

 for chilled brood ; others, that the queen, by a freak of 

 nature, deposits some of her eggs the wrong way up- 

 wards, and that these putrefy in the cells, and contami- 

 nate the others. Whatever may be the origin, one thing 

 is very certain — " it is catching : " there is, however, in 

 the circumstance of the adult bees and of those about 

 emerging from the cells not being injuriously affected 

 thereby, a great help to its eradication, as will presently 

 be shown. 



There are two kinds of foul brood — one of which is 

 dry and not contagious, the brood merely drying up in 

 the cells; from which partial character it is probably 

 within the power of the bees themselves to overcome. 

 In the other kind, instead of drying up, the brood 

 remains dark and slimy in the cells, and emits a most 

 unpleasant odour, perceptible at some distance from the 

 hive. 



