Isle of Wight Disease in Hive Bees. 47 



could fly. A number of those which " crawled " were sent to Dr Annie Porter, 

 together with a description of the symptoms, and she reported as follows :— 

 "Every bee contained spores oiNosema." This was in July 1913. The 

 crawling referred to here was not typical of Isle of Wight disease, and 

 lasted for quite a short time. Also the number involved was very limited, 

 and consisted entirely of young Italian bees. At intervals during June, weak 

 and aged bees, both blacks and Italians, had been picked up in front of this 

 hive and examined on the spot, by one of us (J.A.). These were full of spores 

 of Nosema, but none were found in the young Italians examined at the same 

 time. 



A neighbouring queenless black stock was now united with this Ligurian 

 stock, and soon there was a prosperous colony with plenty of brood, worker 

 and drone. On 12th September 1913, bees taken at random off the frames 

 were examined and no spores of Nosema were seen. During the winter of 

 1913-14 frequent samples were taken, and a large proportion of the bees 

 examined were found heavily infected with spores. Yet those bees were quite 

 active and healthy and could fly perfectly. 



On 19th December 1913, the old queen died and stock G9 continued 

 queenless and broodless for over three months. On 28th March 1914, we 

 added a small lot of Italians which had been found starving in another hive. 

 The queen was a Penna Italian imported in 1913. Bees of this stock were 

 found to be heavily infected with Nosema on 2nd June. 



"When we examined the stock on 20th June 1914, it was quite prosperous 

 with a good show of brood. The weather was wet and cold, and diligent 

 search in front of the hive resulted in the finding of eight benumbed bees. 

 Seven of these were full of spores of Nosema. Eight bees were alsoj)icked 

 off the combs at random, and three of these contained spores of Nosema. 

 Again, on 13th July, one bee out of six examined contained an abundance of 

 spores. This stock is still alive at the present time. 



Nosema Infection Experiments. 

 (a) Infection of a full Stock of Bees with Nosema apis. 

 On nth July 1914, a small lot of Cyprian bees which were known 

 previously to harbour Nosema were placed in confinement. On 28th July 

 most had died, and the remainder appeared weak. Four were examined, two 

 live and two dead. All contained Nosema spores in quantity. The whole 

 lot of bees, ninety-one in number, were mashed with honey, and fed to a full 

 stock of bees at Achmore, Lewis. These were ordinary black bees imported 



