PRESENT BTATUS OF [NVE8TIGATIOK OF BEE DISEASES. 27 



more than a nearly black scale remains, should the larva?, however, escape con 

 tamination until nearly the period of pupa hood, they are sealed over in the nor 

 mal waj by a cover made of pollen-grains and wax, and which i-- 



pervious to air. The cover Furnishes ;i screen, on which pari of the cocoon is 

 soon after spread, but the inhabitanl of the cell is marked out for death, and 

 before verj long the capping or sealing sinks and becomes concave, and in ii 

 punctures of an irregular character appear. * * * ami this is a nearly 

 conclusive sign of the diseased condition of the colony. 'The sense of smell is 

 also appealed to, as ;i peculiar, very offensive, and extremely characteristic 

 odor now escapes from the diseased combs. The bees, in addition, lose energy, 

 but become unusually active in ventilating their hive i».\ standing al the door, 

 heads toward home, and flapping their wings persistently so that a strong out- 

 current, and as ;i necessary consequence, ;i correspondingly indraught are set 

 up. Should any attempt be made al removing a dead larva which has as- 

 sumed a deep brown tint, its body tenaciously adhering to the cell wall will 

 stretch out into long and thin strings like half-dried glue. The microscopisl can 

 easily explain this. The thin chitinous aerating sacs and trachea- do oot un 

 dergo decomposition at all easily, and these remaining, occasion the peculiarity 

 referred to. ::: * * The disease is terribly infectious, and once started soon 

 spreads from cell to eel! and not unfrequout ly from stock to stock. 



Mr. Cheshire was doubtless quite familiar with the disease of (he 

 brood and this description of the symptoms, we may assume, was not 

 made from any one case, hut from his entire experience. At -that 

 time two diseases of the brood were not recognized. We are justi- 

 fied in concluding that both diseases existed in England at that time. 

 as they do now. and doubtless Mr. Cheshire had seen both without 

 realizing that he was dealing with two distinct maladies. In this 

 description he speaks of the disease as attacking brood at various 

 time-, for he says: " Should the larva, however, escape contamination 

 until nearly the period of pupahood," etc. Mis description before 

 that sentence applies as well to what we now call European foul 

 brood a- to American foul brood, while the latter description, espe- 

 cially where he -peak- of the odor and ropiness, is undoubtedly drawn 

 from experience with what we now call American foul brood. There 

 i-. at any rate, ground for the supposition that Mi-. Cheshire was 

 dealing with two diseases. 



In the case of Mr. Cheyne, however, the case was entirely different. 

 He was probably not familiar with the brood disease from practical 

 experience. He also probably did all his work from one specimen, for 

 he says: "On Augu-t 11. L884, Mr. Che-hire brought to me a piece 

 of comb containing larvae affected with foul brood, with which I per- 

 formed tin' following experiment-." In describing this specimen he 

 says: "These larva? were dead, of a yellowish color, and almost 

 liquid." This description certainly applies a- well to European foul 

 I »rood. Since the original description of Bacillus alv< i is so important 

 in this work, it may be well to quote entire Mr. Cheyne's pan of this 

 paper. This is practically unavailable to bee keeper-, since it i- con- 



