Circular 218, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



of plant which is limited in its distribution by these climatic con- 

 ditions, this view is not probable. The fact that the honeybee so 

 largely creates its own environment within the hive is against this 

 view. Within the limits of the United States there is found such a 

 diversity of climatic and floristic conditions that it would be impos- 

 sible in the present state of knowledge regarding this disease to 

 believe that the bees of this country are in no danger from this mite. 

 While the work of Rennie and his associates bears evidence of 

 thoroughness, there still remains the possibility that they are mis- 

 taken in attributing this disease to the mite. This possibility will be 

 removed as work is done on this disease by other investigators. There 

 is no question that the mite is present in colonies suffering from the 

 disease. 



Since at present it would be indicated that the Isle of Wight 

 disease is not present in the United States, probably not in North 

 America, the question of preventing its introduction is an immediate 

 one. The ease with which the parasitic mites may be carried in 

 queen-mailing cages, the most likely method of introduction, suggests 

 the desirability of restricting or prohibiting the importation of 

 queenbees. Restriction of importations of adult bees would entail 

 considerable expense, since it would presumably be necessary to 

 establish Government quarantine apiaries located near one or more 

 of the usual places of entry. 



Prohibition or restriction of importation of adult bees from the 

 British Isles alone would be of little value, because of the ease with 

 which queenbees and the accompanying workers could be sent to 

 the Continent of Europe and reshipped to evade the law. It would 

 also be folly to assume that the mite is restricted in its distribution 

 to Great Britain until much more work is done on its distribution. 

 Except during the period of the war, when importation of queens 

 was almost impossible, a considerable number of queenbees have been 

 sent to the United States every year for many years. Many of these 

 queens are imported by beekeepers for their own use, on the pre- 

 sumption that they can get better stock in Italy than they can in the 

 United States — an entirely erroneous belief. Many are also imported 

 by specialist beekeepers who make a business of raising queenbees for 

 sale. These men should be breeding better bees, instead of sending 

 to Italy annually for unselected material for breeding work, and it is 

 probable that a prohibition of importation would actually be desirable 

 from the point of view of compelling better breeding methods. There 

 far as known, no race or strain of bees anywhere in the world 

 superior to those that have already been introduced, and no obvious 

 advantages come from the repeated importation of queenbees. If a 

 prohibition on importation seems desirable for the present, and if at 



