PREFACE 



The spread of diseases of the brood of bees is to-day a great menace 

 to the bee-keeping industry of the United States. It is therefore of 

 great importance that all phases of these diseases should be investi- 

 gated as thoroly as possible, and this paper, it is believed, will help 

 in clearing up some disputed points in regard to the cause of the two 

 most serious brood diseases. 



Dr. G. F. White has offered this paper for publication as a bulletin 

 in the Bureau of Entomology because in that way the statements 

 herein contained may become more widely known than would be the 

 case were it published in some journal devoted exclusively to bacteri- 

 ological investigations. Obviously there are many points still un- 

 settled, and it is hoped that some of these may be taken up for in- 

 vestigation in the near future, but the results so far obtained should 

 by all means be made known to the persons practically engaged in 

 bee keeping. 



The necessity for the study of nonpathogenic bacteria found in 

 the apiary may not be at first evident to the ordinary reader. When 

 it is seen, however, that some of the investigators of bee diseases have 

 apparently mistaken Bacillus A or some closely allied species for 

 Bacillus alvei it will be evident that a study of nonpathogenic germs 

 is necessary to a thoro investigation of the cause of these diseases and 

 a full understanding of the confusion which has existed. 



The names which should be used for the diseased conditions of 

 brood was a matter which arose after this paper was offered for pub- 

 lication. It was desired that out of the chaos of names in use cer- 

 tain ones be chosen which would be distinctive and still clear to the 

 bee keepers who are interested in work of this nature. Unfortu- 

 nately, after a short investigation. Dr. W. K. Howard, of Fort 

 Worth, Tex., gave the name " New York bee disease," or " black 

 brood," to a disease which Cheshire and Cheyne described in 1885 as 

 " foul brood." Since this is the disease in which Bacillus alvei is 

 present, we can not drop the name " foul brood," and the word 

 " European " is used to distinguish it from the other disease. The bee 

 keepers of the United States have been taught that the type of brood 

 disease characterized by ropiness of the dead brood is true foul brood, 



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