72 HISTORICAL NOTES ON BEE DISEASES. 
received labcled “black brood’’ were in most instances very probably 
the so-called pickled brood. 
This completes for the present the consideration of the investiga- 
tions made by Dr. Burri. His work is executed with much care, and 
his results are correspondingly valuable. For this reason we feel that 
anything which he writes on bee diseases can be recommended to the 
bee keepers for careful study. 
MAASSEN, JUNE, 1906. 
Several interesting papers on bee diseases have been written by 
Maassen, of Dahlam, Germany. The first paper? to be considered 
is on ‘‘foul brood.” 
Of the samples received from 119 apiaries, 112 were found upon 
examination to be diseased. Of these 112 samples which were 
declared diseased, Bacillus alvet was found in only 13. 
Maassen fed colonies large amounts of cultures of Bacillus alvei in 
both the vegetative and spore form during the brood-rearmg season 
without producing the disease. An attempt was also made to inocu- 
late the brood directly, but negative results were obtained by this 
method (p. 59). The conclusion was therefore drawn that Bacillus 
alvet had not the significance in brood infection that had ordinarily 
been attributed to it. Im all cases where Bacillus alvei was not 
found there were other spore-bearing species observed. The pres- 
ence of one species is especially emphasized which offered much diffi- 
culty in cultivation on the usual media of the laboratory (p. 60). 
This species he refers to as Bacillus brandenburgiensis. No definite 
proof was obtained of a causal relation between this spore-bearing 
species and the disease. 
It seemed to Maassen at this time that spore-bearing bacteria were 
probably only secondary invaders in this disease condition. He was 
strengthened in his belief by the finding of what he supposed was a 
protozoan to which he gave the name Spirochzte ais. In all brood 
affected with the disease he records the presence of this micro- 
structure. It was yet to be determined, he says, whether this last 
_ finding bore any causal relation to the disease in which it was found. 
In this paper by Maassen the following points are of special 
interest: 
1. Maassen was examining samples of brood which were suspected 
by the bee keepers to be “‘foul brood.” 
2. He does not mention two forms of ‘‘foul brood.” 
3. He found Bacillus alvei in 13 samples of “‘foul brood” out of 
112 samples diseased. 
1 Maassen, Dr. Albert, June, 1906. Faulbrutseuche der Bienen. Mitteilungen aus der kaiserlichen 
biologischen Anstalt fir Land- und Forstwirtscheaft. Heft 2, pp. 23-29. 
