DISEASES OF BEES. 445 



CHAPTER XVni. 



Diseases op Bees. 



784. Bees are subject to but few diseases that deserve 

 special notice. "We have said (626) that we consider diar- 

 rhea as the result of an accumulation of fceces only, but 

 Mr. Cheshire has examined some of the fences of diarrhea, 

 and found in some of them living organisms, which indicate 

 that, sometimes, the distension of the abdomen is not 

 caused by the overloading of the intestines alone. These 

 organisms, when better known, will probably explain some 

 of the losses of bees, after Winter, and the Spring dwin- 

 dling (659), which reduces so many colonies. 



785. We have said also (665), that those bees, who 

 are in the habit of robbing, assume a smooth, black ap- 

 pearance. Mr. Cheshire thinks that this explanation of 

 glossy black bees is inaccurate, and claims that an examin- 

 ation of such bees has shown, in them, the presence of 

 living organisms, which he named bacilli gaytoni, after 

 Miss Gayton, who found some of her colonies suffering from 

 this disease, for three years in succession. These organ- 

 isms have since received, in England, the name of bacilli 

 depilis. This last term means hairless, the bees affected 

 with the disease losing all, or nearly all, their hair. We do 

 not question the accuracy of the examination of these shiny, 

 hairless bees, but we know that bees who are habitual 

 robbers lose their hair, and assume this slick, shiny appear- 

 ance, without suffering any disease; for they belong to 

 healthy colonies, and are only a small exception among 

 other bees. 



