60 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



swarm appeared to be free of the disease and were working normally. The 

 skep being overcrowded had been provided with an "eke." On the 

 11th September, both stocks were found apparently in perfect health. 

 The bees in the skep had extended their combs down into the eke. 



All this time there had been no symptoms of Isle of Wight disease in the 

 parent stock. 



On 6th October, the parent stock in the bar-frame hive was found rather 

 weak in numbers, and the bees in the skep were driven and united with it. 

 The queen of the skep was removed and introduced to a stock in Desswood 

 apiary. The combs of the skep were cut out and piled over the frames in 

 the wooden hive. 



On 29th December, the bottom of the hive was found to be thickly 

 covered with dead bees, but there were bees still alive amongst the piled 

 combs just under the quilt. 



It may be noted that to date bees have been living in this hive on the 

 old " Isle of Wight " combs for over 18 months without any symptoms of 

 the disease appearing, and the conclusion is legitimate that the appearance 

 of Isle of Wight disease in the swarm is to be traced to a separate source. 



There has also come under our observation the case of a bee-keeper near 

 Perth, who had lost several stocks from the disease, but had several remaining 

 which were apparently in excellent condition, although he had fed them on 

 the stores left by the diseased stocks. One in particular, through an accident, 

 had been soaked with water during last winter (1914-15), and by spring the 

 bees had been reduced to a handful. We examined this stock in October 

 1915, and found it in fine condition. The bees were black, but the owner 

 declared they were Italians because they had had an Italian queen three 

 years previously. Some of the surviving stocks displayed yellow bands, and 

 the bee-keeper attributed their resistance to the admixture of Italian blood. 



Of direct interest in connection with our failure to produce Isle of Wight 

 disease by means of presumably infected hives and combs is the experience of 

 Beuhne, of Victoria, as given in The Australian Bee-lceeper, 15th August 

 1915. He says : " When a very heavy mortality occurred amongst' the bees 

 in the Grampians in 1909-10, and microscopic examination showed the 

 parasite in the bees of the apiaries concerned, the question arose whether 

 bee-keepers should follow the directions of the British Board of Agriculture, 

 and destroy all the remaining bees as well as all the combs, or give the 

 survivors a chance, and take a risk with the combs of the defunct colonies. 



" My personal experience with this kind of mortality was in 1900-01, when 



