22 Department Circular 287, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



Isle of Wight disease has been found in that country. Identifica- 

 tions of the mite were made by Blattny, an assistant in the Zoo- 

 logical Institute at Prague, who is a specialist on mites. He has 

 also found several other species of mites in and about the hives, but 

 these are not associated with any disease and some of them have 

 previously been found in hives. No statement was made regarding 

 the occurrence of the Isle of Wight disease or whether the mite 

 is found without manifestation of the disease, as has occurred in parts 

 of Switzerland. 



That the Isle of Wight disease may be present to an alarming 

 degree in Czechoslovakia is indicated by an article by Altmann 

 (60), in which it is stated that during the spring of 1923 reports 

 have been received by him of the heavy death of adult bees and of 

 entire colonies, of such a character that the loss can not be attributed 

 to poor wintering. Altmann is in charge of the bee investigations 

 for the Deutsch. bienenwirtschaft. Landes-Zentral Verein fur Boh- 

 men, and asks that diseased bees be sent in for examination to deter- 

 mine whether Nosema apis or Acarapis woodi is the cause of the 

 heavy losses. An even more severe loss of adult bees and of colonies 

 has been reported from the territory of Teschen (Bohemia) byKessler 

 (62), but no indication of the cause of this loss is given. 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



In a letter dated June 18, 1923, from Dr. Otto Morgenthaler, 

 Liebefeld bei Bern, Switzerland, whose investigations of the Isle of 

 Wight disease have added so materially to our knowledge of this 

 subject, it is stated that the Isle of Wight disease has become estab- 

 lished in South Africa and that attacked colonies have been destroyed 

 by officials in Natal. Details of this outbreak are lacking. 



OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. 



So far as has come to the attention of the Bureau of Entomology, 

 no search has been made for the Isle of Wight disease or for the 

 mite which causes it in any country of Europe other than those 

 already mentioned, nor has any definite statement been seen regard- 

 ing its presence, based on investigations. It has been reported to 

 the bureau by certain American beekeepers that they have assurance 

 that the disease does not exist in certain countries, but so far it has 

 been impossible to get any accurate first-hand information on these 

 subjects, and in some cases the reported evidence has been found to 

 consist merely of letters from some queen breeder who is eager to 

 sell his queens in this country, but who has no means of examining 

 bees for the presence of mites or any knowledge of its presence in 

 his country. 



The finding of mites so generally in France and Switzerland, as 

 soon as steps were taken to search for them, shows conclusively that 

 the mite is not one which has until recently been confined to Great 

 Britain. There is, therefore, a high degree of probability, amount- 

 ing almost to a certainty, that the mite is present in countries other 

 than those in which it has beep sought. Th# facts which Morgen- 

 thaler (44) brings out regarding the wide prevalence of weak 

 colonies, lack of swarming, and other evidence of abnormality in 



