_ 
46. Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
five examined individually were of a healthy appearance; the colons were 
not markedly congested, and contained watery material consisting almost 
entirely of indigestible pollen residues. The abdominal parts of the 
remaining bees were pulped, and drops of the fluid examined as offering the 
most reliable means of detecting the presence of Nosema spores. This stock 
remained healthy alongside the next-mentioned. 
Meanwhile there had been in the same apiary, and in close proximity to 
this stock, an independent outbreak of Isle of Wight disease. A swarm of 
black bees arrived from the South of England on Saturday, 11th July 1914, - 
and was duly hived. The bees began to crawl next day, and the symptoms 
were very marked when we visited the apiary on 13th July. Then, nearly 
half of the stock was to be seen crawling or dead upon the ground.} 
Bees taken on this occasion were examined in Stornoway by J. A. and 
J. R. with negative results, and stained preparations were afterwards made 
without young stages being found. This swarm was headed by an Italian 
queen, which had been supplied just before the stock was despatched to 
Lewis. A little patch of brood was hatched, and the yellow bees did not 
“crawl.” The blacks were all dead in autumn and the yellows were not 
strong enough to winter. 
Stock G9: Nicolson Apiary.—This stock has no history of ial! of Wight 
disease and no abnormal death-rate. A few ‘‘crawlers” have occasionally 
been observed, but nothing to indicate disease, yet this stock is known to 
have harboured Nosema for at least three years. The original queen was a 
pure Ligurian imported from Bologna (apiary of Enrico Penna), in the 
autumn of 1911. A black stock on each side of this hive (the stocks already 
referred to as C13 and D1) died of Isle of Wight disease during that autumn 
and winter, but the Ligurians showed no signs of trouble. These extinct 
stocks were replaced in 1912 by two other black stocks (D4 and H12) which 
died out—D4 certainly, and H12 probably, from Isle of Wight disease 
before the following winter. But still the Ligurians showed no signs of this 
disease. 
lst September 1912 was very windy, and the hive of G9 was blown right 
over, the combs being scattered. The bees were gathered up and the queen 
found uninjured, but this accident handicapped the bees for getting into 
condition for wintering. The spring of 1913 found them very weak and 
hardly any of the young bees were able to fly. 
Examination for Nosema spores gave negative results at this stage. The 
queen eventually ceased laying, and she was transferred to a queenless black 
stock. In due course brood appeared, and in this case most of the young bees 
1 Bees from this stock were used in Tolsta experiment (see p. 52). 
