1907.] 



Disease of Bees. 



139 



by means of other movements. This production of heat is 

 naturally brought about at the expense of the tissues, and 

 carbohydrate food is insufficient to make good the wear and 

 tear. Nitrogenous food becomes necessary and pollen is, there- 

 fore, consumed in large quantities. Under these circumstances 

 the bees frequently discharge themselves over the comb, as 

 already noted in a previous paragraph, on account of the gut 

 being overcharged with pollen. This condition is not, however, 

 apparently true dysentery, for, according to Cheshire, the latter 

 is due to a fungoid (yeast ?) growth causing the distension of the 

 hind gut. 



There appears, however, to be some connection between the 

 " dysenteric conditions " noted in the diseased hives and the 

 disease at present under consideration. Possibly the former 

 renders them predisposed to the latter, or they may be phases 

 in one and the same disease. It has been already mentioned 

 that the excrements appear to be similar in both cases. 



It is noteworthy that about 5 per cent, of the diseased bees 

 kept under observation have been noticed to discharge 

 their excrement. This fact seems to suggest that the disease 

 may possibly be amenable to the action of some suitable drug 

 mixed with the food of the bees. 



The death of the bees seems to be brought about finally by 

 blood-poisoning, partly by the accumulation of toxins derived 

 from the congested mass of waste material in the colon, and to 

 some extent by the imperfect oxygenation of the tissues, owing 

 to the pressure exerted on the abdominal air-sacs. 



The demand for nitrogenous food seems to be one of the most 

 marked characters of the disease, but why the demand should 

 arise is a question which it is not possible at present to answer. 

 As an experiment it might be worth while to supply liquid 

 nitrogenous food and to remove the greater part of the pollen 

 from the combs in winter. 



Remedies tried by Bee-Keepers . — Numerous remedies have 

 been tried by different bee-keepers. The most successful case 

 appears to be that adopted by a Shanklin keeper, who has suc- 

 cessfully brought hives over from last year by feeding with 

 cane sugar, and up to the present they seem to be perfectly 

 healthy. Others, however, have tried the remedy without 

 any success. Several bee-keepers have tried re-queening, but 



