92 HISTORICAL NOTES ON BEE DISEASES. 
MAASSEN AND NirHack, Marcu, 1910. 
Simultaneously with the paper just considered there was pub- 
lished a paper! on bee dysentery by Maassen and Nithack. Dead 
adult bees from entirely isolated localities were received and exam- 
ined., There was a history of supposed poisoning accompanying the 
bees. No cause for their death, however, could be found. It is 
recorded that no Nosema apis was found. 
The first dysentery observed by these men was in two colonies 
taken from different apiaries. One was a queenless two-frame 
nucleus and the other a queen-right colony of six frames. These 
two colonies were transferred to wire cages. After about three 
weeks symptoms of dysentery were observed. At the beginning of 
the spotting Nosema apis was not found in the excrement, but could 
be demonstrated in the mid-gut. Several days later, when the 
intestine showed the appearance described by Zander, the parasite 
was found in the intestine. 
These findings caused Maassen and Nithack to confine in wire 
cages a series of small queenless colonies. These cages were kept in 
a room whose temperature ranged from 14°to16°C. The bees were 
obtained from different sources, and all chances of becoming infected 
from food, hives, or combs subsequent to being taken into the room 
were excluded. The results obtained from this experiment were 
similar to those of the preceding one. Other experiments somewhat 
similar were performed. 
These men report that in many colonies in which no visible signs 
of dysentery were present there were found bees containing Nosema 
apis. They believe that among bees this protozoan is widely dis- 
tributed. Up to the time of their writing they had not failed to find 
it in colonies that were suffering from dysentery. 
MALDEN, JUNE, 1910. 
In 1910 Malden in a paper ? gave a good brief review of the status 
of the present knowledge of bee diseases. He gives some further 
observations concerning the Isle of Wight disease. Referring to 
Bacillus pestiformis apis (p. 87) he writes in part as follows: 
This organism may frequently be found to have penetrated between the cells of 
the lining membrane of the chyle stomach and to be present in large numbers in the 
loosened tissue behind the secreting cells. It has been found present in about 60 
per cent. of all the bees affected with this disease which have beenexamined. * * * 
It appears highly probable that this organism is the cause of the disease, but up to the 
present time no infection experiments have been successful in producing the com- 
plaint in healthy stocks, so that its relation to the disease cannot be said to be proved. 
1 Maassen und Nithack, March, 1910. Uber die Ruhr der Bienen. Mitteilungen aus der kaiserlichen 
biologischen Anstalt fiir Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Heft 10, pp. 39-42. 
2 Malden, Walter, M.A.,M.D., June,1910. Diseasesof bees. Reprinted from The Journal of Economic 
Biology, Vol. V, Pt. 2. Pp. 41-48. 
