THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. XIV. No. 3. 



JUNE, 1907. 



REPORT ON A DISEASE OF BEES IN THE ISLE OF 



WIGHT. 



In consequence of numerous reports which were received as 

 to the occurrence of a very serious disease among bees in the 

 Isle of Wight, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries requested 

 Mr. A. D. Imms, B.A., M. Sc., of Christs College, Cambridge, to 

 undertake an inquiry into the nature and cause of the disease 

 Mr. Imms has now furnished the Board with the following 

 Report on the result of his investigations. 



The Isle of Wight bee-keepers term the disease " paralysis,' r 

 but its symptoms do not agree with those of the ordinary disease- 

 of bees which bears that name. 



Geographical Distribution. — So far as has been ascertained by 

 personal inquiry, the disease appears to have been first observed 

 in the south-eastern area of the island, somewhere in the 

 neighbourhood of Wroxall. Bee-keepers all state that they 

 were not troubled with the disease previous to 1904, and it is 

 said to have broken out in the summer of that year. During 

 the year 1906 it spread very rapidly, and in the spring of 1907 it 

 was prevalent over nearly the whole of the island, and in most 

 localities that have been visited it was practically an impossibility 

 to keep bees with any profit. The following are the principal 

 places where the disease has been ascertained to occur : — Near 

 Blackwater, Bembridge, Bonchurch, Brook, Chillerton, Fresh- 

 water, Great Whitcombe, Hampstead, Newport, Porchfield, 

 Ryde, St. Helen's, Sheat, Shalfleet, Shanklin, Thorley, Ventnor^ 

 Yafford, Yarmouth, Wellow, and Wroxall. 



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