FOUL-BROOD. 475 



the bees, which is never the case with the other disease be- 

 cause of the sticky adherence of the dead matter to the cell 

 wall. Decaying larvas that have died of this disease have no 

 ropiness usually and cannot be stretched out in a string as 

 with the other disease. There is very little odor from the 

 dead larvae and when there is any, it does not resemble that 

 of a "glue pot" which is characteristic of the more dangerous 

 foul-brood. The odor more resembles that of soured brood. 



The methods of treatment of the two diseases do not 

 differ and will be mentioned farther. For a more complete 

 description of black-brood, see "Bacteria of the Apiary," 

 U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Technical Series No. 14, by 

 G. F. White, Ph. D. 



789. Bacillus larvae or foul-brood proper is a more malig- 

 nant disease. It may be very clearly described. 



DESCRIPTION OF MALIGNANT FOUL-BROOD. 



"In most cases the larva is attacked when nearly ready to 

 seal up. It turns slightly, yellow, or grayish spots appear on it. 

 It then seemsi to soften, settles down in the bottom of the cell, 

 in a shapeless mass, at first white, yellow, or grayish in color, 

 soon changing to brown. At this stage it becomes glutinous 

 and ropy; then, after a varying length of time, owing to the 

 weather, it dries up into a dark coffee-colored mass. Usually 

 the bees make no attempt to clean out the infected cells, and 

 they will sometimes fill them with honey, covering up this dried 

 foul-brood matter at the bottom. 



"Sometimes the larvss do not die until sealed over. We have 

 been told that such may be easily detected by a sunken cap- 

 ping perforated by a 'pin-hole.' This is by no means in- 

 variably the case. Such larvae will often dry up entirely, with- 

 out the cap being perforated or perceptibly sunken, although 

 it usually becomes darker in color than those covering healthy 

 larvae. 



"The most fatal misapprehension has been in regard to the 

 smell of the disease. In its first stages there is no perceptible 

 smell, and it is not until the disease has made a considerable 

 progress that any unusual smell would be noticed by most per- 

 sons. In the last stages, when sometimes half or more of the 



