Isle of Wight Disease in Hive Bees. 59 



The second swarm, standing alongside the first, has never displayed any 

 symptoms of the disease. 



(b) Natural Occupation of Isle of Wight Affected Site. 

 The Hive and its Contents as Possible Sources of Infection. 



The following case is related to the foregoing experiment in respect that 

 it is a naturally occurring instance in which the same factors, viz. hive 

 and combs of an extinct Isle of Wight diseased stock, are involved. 



Bees which occupied a frame hive began to exhibit "crawling" and 

 other symptoms of Isle of Wight disease in the autumn of 1913, and 

 the last survivors perished in the spring of 1914. The hive was not 

 disinfected nor the honey and dead bees removed, but the door was closed. 

 In June 1914, a vagrant swarm alighted beside the hive and was allowed to 

 enter. No particular attention was paid to them, for it was not expected 

 they would survive. But it was observed that the new-comers were very 

 diligent in removing the dead bees and getting the hive in order. The 

 bees wintered in good order, and in May 1915 they swarmed. This top 

 swarm was unfortunately lost, though followed for some distance, but a 

 second swarm on 7th June was duly hived in a skep and placed alongside 

 the parent stock. Both stocks were visited and examined for eggs on 12th, 

 15th, and 21st June, but none was observed. Up till this time both stocks 

 appeared perfectly healthy and were working normally, except that the 

 parent stock had only a small number of bees, and drones were unusually 

 numerous. Thus it will be seen that in the case of the parent stock a full 

 year had elapsed since the bees took possession of a hive and combs with a 

 recent history of Isle of Wight disease. 



On the 26th of June " crawling " symptoms were developed in the bees 

 of the swarm, and these were very marked when the stocks were visited on 

 28th June. The garden in front of the skep for a considerable distance was 

 covered with crawling bees, with characteristic grouping very noticeable. 

 The internal appearance of the crawling bees was quite characteristic of 

 Isle of Wight disease, and we satisfied ourselves that this disease was 

 present. It should be added here that both in 1914 and 1915 the whole 

 surrounding district had been swept by the disease, and there were very few 

 stocks surviving in it. Examination of the combs showed that both queens 

 were laying, and there was a good deal of sealed brood in the skep. 



The crawling symptoms above noted became less noticeable from day to 

 day. There were, however, fluctuations, till on 23rd August both stock and 



