UNITED STATES 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 287 



Washington, D. C. November, 1923 



THE OCCURRENCE OF DISEASES 

 OF ADULT BEES, II. 



E. F. PHILLIPS, 



Apioiilturist, Bureau of Entomology 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Nature of the Isle of Wight disease 2 



The United States 8 



The Dominion of Canada 11 



Great Britain 11 



France 12 



Switaerland 16 



Germany 19 



Italy 20 



Page. 



Denmark 21 



Czechoslovakia 21 



South Africa 22 



Other European countries 22 



Embargoes to prevent introduction of 



bee diseases .«. 25 



Literature cited 27 



Appendix 31 



I 



INTRODUCTION. 



N VIEW of the wide interest of American beekeepers in the Isle 

 of Wight disease and in the effort to prevent its introduction 

 into the United States, it seems well to summarize the reports that 

 have come to the attention of the Bureau of Entomology regarding 

 its distribution throughout the world. In this paper the situation 

 in Europe is chiefly discussed, partly because the disease is found 

 there, but especially because importations of queenbees are desired 

 from few, if any, countries other than those of continental Europe. 

 There seems to have been no effort elsewhere to make such a com- 

 pilation, yet this information must be needed by beekeepers of many 

 countries. Under the law enacted by Congress in August, 1922, 

 prohibiting importation of adult bees into the United States, the 

 Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to lift the prohibition from 

 countries in which it is determined that no disease dangerous to 

 adult bees exists, and in the formulation of the regulations under 

 this law information on the distribution of the Isle of Wight disease 

 throughout the world is vitally important. It is also desirable to 

 record the data obtained from the additional search for this disease 

 made within the United States in 1922, since the first publication on 

 this subject. Obviously no claim of originality is made for this 



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