34 HISTORICAL NOTES ON BEE DISEASES. 
study of Bacillus alvez, together with the experiment by Cheshire in 
which healthy brood was inoculated with a spray containing a cul- 
ture of Bacillus alvei. In drawing the conclusion Cheyne evidently 
supposed that Cheshire had produced the disease experimentally. 
Had Cheyne known, on the other hand, that this had not been done 
by Cheshire, his conclusion would have been undoubtedly differently 
expressed. 
The description which Cheyne made of Bacillus alvei is very good. 
It contains, however, a number of statements with which he, himself, 
no doubt at the present time would disagree. Such might be expected 
since it has now been 26 years since he did the work. 
There is much data in Cheyne’s paper of interest and value. The 
following is a brief summary of his work: 
1. He received a sample of diseased brood from Cheshire on August 
11, 1884, and the paper which contained the results of his work was 
read on March 11, 1885. 
2. He described carefully and accurately the morphology and cul- 
tural characteristics of Bacillus alver. His description of the organism 
is the first one by which the identification of the species was made 
possible. | 
3. The larve which he examined were yellowish and almost ue 
This suggests European foul brood. 
A, He found Bacillus alvei in large numbers in all the larve exam- 
ined. This, too, suggests European foul brood. 
5. He does not mention either the presence of ropy coffee-colored 
larve or scales in the sample examined. This suggests that he was 
not studying American foul brood. 
6. He evidently did not encounter Bacillus larve, since he does not 
mention the presence of any bacteria in the larve which would not 
grow on artificial media. This, too, is very strong evidence that he 
was not studying American foul brood. 
7. He was misled by Cheshire’s inoculation experiment with bees, 
causing a statement to be made in his conclusion which was less 
conservatively expressed than it would otherwise have been. 
While Cheshire and Cheyne did not prove the cause of any disease 
of bees, their work is of importance in determining to what species of 
bacteria the name Bacillus alvei belongs, and also in determining the 
names for the different brood diseases. The microorganism which 
Cheyne so well described has the right to the name Bacillus alvet, 
because the species was first described by Cheyne and his work had 
the sanction of Cheshire, who first used the name. 
It is quite certain that Cheyne was working with the disease now 
known as European foul brood when he secured the data for his 
