CONTENTS. XX111 



PAGE 



jcctions considered — Bee bread or the pollen of flowers 

 supposed by some naturalists to be the food administered 

 to the larvee — Objections to bee bread forming any part of 

 the food — Variety of opinion as to the nature of the food — 

 Variety in the colour of it according to Huber, Lombard, 

 Ducarne, and others— General remarks 339 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE MALADIES OF BEES, THEIR CURE AND PREVENTION. 



The dysentery and indigestion, the principal maladies of 

 bees — Suffocation mentioned by the French apiarians — 

 The protracted retention of the fseces the chief cause of 

 the dysentery — Periodical flights of the bees — Errors of 

 the French naturalists — Erroneous statement of Mr. Du- 

 couedic — Anecdote of the Duchess of St. Albans — Inves- 

 tigation of the hypothesis of Ducouedic — The drone voids 

 no excrement according to Ducouedic — His food converted 

 into wax — Refutation of that statement- — The chief symp- 

 toms of the dysentery— The malady contagious — A spuri- 

 ous and corrupted food, one of the causes of the dysentery 

 — Supposed to be produced by particular trees and flowers 

 —Experiments of Reaumur — Various remedies prescribed 

 for the disease — Excellent recipe for the cure of it — 

 Singular addition made to it by Monsieur Martin — Re- 

 medies proposed by Wildman, Parkyns, Lombard, Ran- 

 coni, James Gil, Duchet, Keys, L'Abbe" Aime" — The dys- 

 entery almost incurable if not taken at its origin — The 

 stand to be frequently cleaned — Indigestion of bees — 

 Coarse sugar one of the chief causes of it — The antennae 

 of the bees subject to a disease — Its signs — Attributed by 

 Mr. Ducouedic to the farina of the broom — Abortive 

 brood the cause of the death of a number of bees — Signs 

 of abortive brood — Combs containing abortive brood to be 

 cut out — Abortive brood the sign of the decline of a hive 

 — Bee bread formerly considered a disease 34fi 



CHAPTER XVJI. 



COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF DEPRIVATION AND 

 SUFFOCATION. 



Discussion of the question of deprivation and suffocation — 

 The process of deprivation apparently of a formidable 

 nature — Bees easily tamed by smoke — Hives to be 



