8 14 Disease of Bees in the Isle of Wight, [fee., 



Experimental Evidence Relating to the Transmission of 

 the Disease.— A number of direct experiments and observa- 

 tions seem to show that after a short period the hives and 

 combs are not infective. 



For example, Mr. J. W. Cooper writes: "I have known 

 combs from diseased hives placed in apparently healthy hives 

 without making any difference to the bees " (two experiments). 

 The same authority describes another experiment in the 

 following words : "A month ago a nucleus of these bees was 

 introduced from a strong apiary in Sussex and placed in a 

 hive in which other bees had died three months before. This 

 hive simply had the dead bees and refuse scraped out, but 

 was not washed or disinfected in any way, the idea being to 

 see if bees placed in a hive where other bees had died would 

 get the disease. As far as I can see the bees are healthy up 

 to the present." Nine months afterwards the stock was still 

 healthy. Mr. H. M. Cooper relates the following expe- 

 riences. "The other lot was placed in a hive where others 

 had died, and was fed with a syrup taken from another lot 

 that had died some months before. Combs were given them 

 from a third diseased lot. These bees began to show signs 

 of the disease after nine months." Infection therefore 

 probably occurred at a later time from some other source. 

 "I have known of four cases of swarms entering hives where 

 other bees had died and keep free from the disease for a long 

 time, say about twelve months." 



The results, however, are quite different when swarms 

 enter infected hives which still contain a few diseased bees. 



Evidence Relating to the Infective Nature of the Disease. 



(1) The disease has gradually spread from one part of the 

 Island to others, and seems to have been recently introduced 

 on to the mainland. 



(2) Four stocks of bees at Gurnard, separated by at least 

 two miles from other stocks, remained healthy till May, iqo8, 

 although the disease had killed off the majority of bees in 

 other parts of the Island. Since that time one of the four 

 stocks has contracted the disease. 



(3) In every case in which trustworthy information could 

 be obtained, it was stated that the foragers were invariably 



