1909.] Disease of Bees in the Isle of Wight. 811 



symptom, have not noticed it. A considerable proportion of 

 the diseased bees have swollen abdomens, which they are 

 unable to extend fully. The terminal segments droop, and 

 are partly flexed downwards. According to some bee-keepers, 

 this is so marked that they are able to diagnose the disease 

 by the characteristic attitude of the bees on the combs before 

 any dead ones are found outside the hives. It has been 

 stated that the diseased bees lose their power of stinging. 

 It has been clearly proved, however, that these bees can sting, 

 but owing to their sluggish and otherwise sickly condition 

 are disinclined to do so. The wings are often dislocated, but 

 this is not invariably the case. In a badly infected stock 

 great numbers of bees are to be seen crawling over the 

 ground in front of the hives, frequently massed together in 

 little clusters, while others remain on the alighting board. 

 If the hives be opened, numbers of diseased individuals will 

 often be met with inside. 



In winter and in the early spring the diseased bees void 

 their excrement on the floor, walls, and alighting boards of 

 their hives, the dried faeces taking the form of a streak of 

 dirty brown material. In summer this condition is not 

 noticed. All observers are agreed in stating that the foragers 

 are the earliest to become affected, and many have thought 

 that robbers which enter infected hives are the first to be 

 attacked. In hives which have been completely destroyed 

 the last remnant of the colony is generally found grouped 

 around the queen. The latter probably dies from want of 

 attention and not from the disease. 



Secondary Effects of the Disease. — Hives attacked by the 

 disease are liable to "chilled brood," which kills off large 

 numbers of the young and developing generation. The 

 weakened bees are unable to withstand the onslaughts of 

 robbers, and the latter were often in evidence around infested 

 hives, while the destruction of a diseased colony is further 

 hastened by the Wax Moth, which soon gains an entrance 

 into a feebly defended hive. 



Mortality and Influence of Season. — The mortality caused 

 by the disease is much more noticeable during the summer 

 than during the winter months, perhaps simply because there 

 are more bees in the hives at that time of year. According 



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