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



Further study of the disease in Great Britain is bringing to light 

 many interesting facts. The disease varies considerably in serious- 

 ness from season to season and in various locations, and a study of 

 the conditions under which it does little or no damage would seem 

 to be the most promising field for investigation in devising further 

 control measures, just as has been done in the United States for the 

 variable brood disease, European foulbrood. The extensive shipping 

 of " driven bees," or bees without combs, to replace colonies dead of 

 various causes has doubtless served to spread the Isle of Wight dis- 

 ease, as well as ISTosema disease, which is also evidently prevalent 

 there. Since the rapid breeding up of colonies in the spring seems to 

 be very important in eliminating the disease, it is strange that more 

 emphasis has not been placed by British beekeepers on methods of 

 better wintering, which are vital for sucoess at this season in the 

 United States. 



The most popular means of combating the disease in Great Britain 

 seems to be the importation of bees from Holland and queens from 

 Italy, and the advocates of the two races of bees have claimed for 

 them greater power to resist the Isle of Wight disease than is pos- 

 sessed by bees native to Great Britain. On the contrary, other bee- 

 keepers are vehement in their denunciation of these importations and 

 of the wide distribution of foreign races of bees, so that at a distance 

 it is impossible to judge the merits of the effort. It seems obvious 

 from the discussions on this subject that the only superiority which 

 can be claimed for the two introduced races lies in their ability to 

 breed up faster than the native bees. If this is true they may have 

 some advantages in combating the malady. No general plan for the 

 control or eradication of the disease under Government supervision 

 has been announced. 



FRANCE. 



Just as Department Circular 218 was going to press (March, 1922) 

 the first record reached the Bureau of Entomology of the finding of 

 Acarapis woodi, the mite causing the Isle of Wight disease, on the 

 continent of Europe. A brief footnote was added to page 7 of the 

 circular to announce this finding. This record appeared in the Janu- 

 ary, 1922, issue of one of the French bee journals (49). The deter- 

 mination of the mite was made by a competent observer, L. Berland, 

 assistant in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, under the super- 

 vision of Prof. E. L. Bouvier. The mites found in these diseased 

 bees were identified as Tarsonemus ivoodi after comparisons with 

 Rennie's descriptions and illustrations. The exact location of this 

 outbreak of the disease was not recorded, 3 except that it was in the 



3 From a recent article by Ph. J. Baldensperger ["Quelle est la patrie du Tarsone- 

 mus?" La gazette apicole, v. 24, no. 220, i>. 57-59], it would appear that this first 

 outbreak was in the town of Champseur, Hautes-Alpes. He states that he took a trip of 

 investigation through this territory with an entomologist, M. Poutiers, of Mentone, and 

 that on this trip they were not able to find any of the mites causing the disease, although 

 they had been definitely identified from the apiaries in which the disease was first, dis- 

 covered. The apparent disappearance of the mites is not explained. Other beekeepers 

 of the region are reported to have lost their bees, hut the cause of this loss could not 

 be determined from lack of material. A recent private communication (Apr. 21, 

 1923) from M. R. Poutiers, Mentone, confirms the absence of mites from the 

 examined on this trip. He reports a heavy loss of adult bees- al Mentone last December, 

 in the tracheae of which he found Aoarapis tcoorfi. but he is not. yet entirely certain that 

 the mite causing acarine disease in Fiance is identical with thai described in England 

 and Scotland. lie slates that the disease is made more severe by dampness, but that 

 ii appeals not to be so severe as in Great Britain. Investigations at Mentone are still in 

 progress. 



