446 DISEASES OF BEES. 
Fout—Broop. 
786. There are other unimportant diseases, which have 
not yet been studied, but all are nothing, when compared to 
the dreadful contagious malady, already known thousands of 
years ago* and commonly called foul-brood, because it 
shows its effects mainly by the dying of the brood, but the 
denomination is improper, for the brood is not alone dis- 
eased. 
‘When we remember that bees live in the closest contact 
in very numerous colonies; that their usual system of inter- 
communication is by actual touch ; that they habitually pass food 
from one stomach to another, while all the food they have has 
been carried either within or upon the bodies of their fellows; 
that their very home is formed of one of their secretions, and 
that their beds, cradles and larder are all interchangeable, we 
shall admit that the circumstances are such as would appear to 
favor the develupment of contagious diseases.”— (Cheshire.) 
787. The scientific and indeed the true name of foul- 
brood is bacillust alvei, ‘‘smail stick of bee-hives’’ because 
it is composed of living organisms resembling small sticks. 
It develops very rapidly, and has been found, by Schonfeld 
and by Cheshire, not only in the brood, but in the bees and 
queens. The rapid depopulating of the colonies infested, 
coupled with the fact that Mr. Bertrand has known several 
queens to die in diseased colonies, leaves no doubt as to the 
accuracy of the microscopical experiments made by Che- 
shire, on queens who were found with bacilli, not only in 
their organs, but also in the half developed eggs of their 
ovaries. According to the English microscopists, there are 
two kinds of bacilli alvei, the major and the minor, the 
* As Aristotle (History of Animals, Book IX., Chap. 40) speaks of a disease 
which is accompanied by a disgusting smell of the hive, there is reason to believe 
that foul-brood was common more than two thousand years ago. 
+ Bacillus, plural bacilli, from the Latin, a stick. 
