50 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF API ABIES. 



Dr. William R. Howard, of Fort Worth University, Fort Worth, 

 Tex., has published several papers ob the bacteriology of bee dis- 

 eases. In a paper published in 1894 (York Publishing Company. 

 Chicago) he attributed " foul brood " to Bacillus alvei. Evidently he 

 was dealing with American foul brood, and we now know that Bacil- 

 lus larva is present in that disease. 



The same author undertook to determine the cause of pickle brood 

 and described a specific fungus, Aspergillus pollinis. Xo investi- 

 gator has since been able to find any such fungus in similar 

 specimens. 



In 1900 (Gleanings in Bee Culture, p. 121) this author published 

 an account of some brief and entirely inadequate investigations made 

 on what he chose to call "New York Bee Disease, or Black Brood." 

 A specific organism. Bacillus milii, is described, but the view is ex- 

 pressed that this is modified, perhaps, by Bacillus thoracis. During 

 the investigations of the Department of Agriculture it has been 

 learned from whom Doctor Howard got his specimen-, and the same 

 men have furnished specimens which they declare to be of the same 

 diseased condition as those furnished Doctor Howard. These, how- 

 ever, contain Bacillus alvei, and the disease is the same as that de- 

 scribed by Cheyne, now named European foul brood. 



It is mo.st unfortunate for Doctor Howard that in not a single 

 point have his descriptions been verified. Certainly it would seem 

 unwise in him to put out the name- Bacillus milii and Bacillus 

 thoracis as new species without descriptions and after so short an 

 investigation. We can not, therefore, sympathize very much with 

 him when his views are overthrown. 



The American bee journals and text-books on apiculture have 

 until recently contained statements to the effect that Bacillus alvt : 

 is the cause of the disease which has been almost universally called 

 " foul brood." This is due not onry to the publications of Mackenzie, 

 Harrison, and Howard, but very largely also to the attempt to deter- 

 mine Bacillus alvei by microscopic examination. The best-known 

 case of this is probably the examination of diseased brood made by 

 Mr. Thomas William Cowan, editor of the British Bee Journal. 

 On a visit to Medina, Ohio. Mr. Cowan was shown a sample of dis- 

 eased brood, and after a microscopic examination lie announced that 

 lie found Bacillus alvei, and that the diseased condition is identical 

 with that found in England. That this ropy type | for such it was) 

 is found in England can not be doubted, but that the germ- which 

 Mr. Cowan saw were Bacillus <//>-<; may well be doubted. I have 

 taken particular pains to ask Mr. E. R. Root, who was present, 

 whether Mr. Cowan made a cultural examination, and was assured 

 that the microscopic examination was tin 1 only one made. 



The announcement of this examination in Gleanings in Bee Oil- 



