52 BULLETIN 780, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
DYSENTERY. 
The term "dysentery" as applied to a disorder among adult bees 
is found in early beekeeping literature and is still encountered fre- 
quently. The spotting of the hive which is so often referred to as a 
symptom of dysentery and the absence of Nosema apis will serve to 
distinguish it from Nosema-disease. 
PARALYSIS.' 
The term "paralysis" has been widely used to designate a disease 
of adult bees. In this country the name usually is applied to a con- 
dition in which a large number of the bees of the affected colony die 
suddenly with the result that often a large mass of them is found 
in front of the hive. When this disorder is encountered usually only 
a colony here and there in the apiary is affected. Whether or not 
the disorder is infectious has not yet been determined. Time has 
permitted the making of only a few preliminary experiments on this 
disorder by the writer. The few which have been made and the 
facts as observed by practical beekeepers indicate that if the disease 
is infectious it is only slightly so. It is not likely, therefore, to 
spread to any great extent in the apiary. It can be differentiated 
from Nosema-disease by the absence of Nosema apis in the bees that 
have died of the disorder, and in the bees remaining in the colony. 
SPRING DWINDLING. 
It is very probable that more than one disorder has been referred 
to by the term "spring dwindling." When Nosema-disease was 
encountered by the beekeepers in the past, most likely it was often 
designated spring dwindling. Other conditions which are called 
spring dwindling may be differentiated from Nosema-disease by the 
fact that Nosema apis is present in Nosema-disease and is absent in 
other conditions unless, of course, a mixed infection is present. 
ISLE OF WIGHT DISEASE. 
There has been encountered in many parts of England a- disorder 
among adult bees from which heavy losses have been reported. The 
condition was described in 1906 by the beekeepers on the Isle of 
Wight, where apiaries had suffered heavy losses. 
Bullamore and Maiden (1912), of England, after studying the 
symptoms of the disease, arrived at the conclusion "that no one 
symptom is characteristic of the Isle of Wight disease, the only 
essential feature being the death of large numbers of bees within or 
i On account of the shaking or trembling movements sometimes manifested by individual beesaffected, 
the term "palsy" has been used to designate the condition. As this term describes more accurately a 
marked symptom observed in the individual bee affected, it would seem to be a more appropriate one 
than "paralysis." 
