NOSEMA-DISEASE. 3 
NAME OF DISEASE. 
About 60 years ago Donhoff (1857, March) discovered small oval 
bodies upon examining microscopically the stomachs from adult bees 
which he supposed had died of exposure. He sent some of the bees 
to Leuckart, who after an examination of them expressed the belief 
that the oval bodies were the spores of a fungus ("Pilz"). The dis- 
order was referred to by Donhoff (1857, August) by the term "Pilz- 
sucht" (fungous disease). 
These observations apparently had been practically forgotten at 
the time Zander (1909) reported his studi'es on a disease of adult 
bees in which he found small oval bodies in the walls of stomachs 
taken from affected bees. These were in fact the parasites that 
cause the disease. To the germ Zander (1909) gave the name 
Nosema apis and for the disease he (1911) used the name "Nosema- 
seuche." 
The disorder studied by Donhoff and the one studied by Zander 
are almost without question one and the same condition. It will be 
noted that each of these men in referring to the disorder used a term 
containing a reference to the parasite considered by each, respectively, 
as being its cause. The term "Nosema-disease, " 1 which the writer 
(1914) has suggested as the common name 2 for the disease, is not a 
new one, it will be observed, but simply an English translation of the 
term "Nosema-seuche" used by Zander. 
In Switzerland "Nosemakrankheit 7 ' (Nosema-disease) (Nussbau- 
mer, 1912; Angst, 1913) is the term commonly used in referring 
to the disease. In Denmark Bahr (1915) used the term "Nosema- 
sygdommen ' ' (Nosema-disease) . 
The name " Nosema-disease " possesses certain features which com- 
mend it: (1) It is definite, as it can refer only to the disease caused by 
Nosema apis ; (2) it suggests the nature of the disease by referring to 
its cause ; (3) it is readily understood ; and (4) it is not long. 
Care should be observed that Nosema-disease is not confused with 
dysentery. Leuckart (1857, March) early raised the question regard- 
ing its relation to dysentery. The question was soon afterwards 
1 It will be observed that there are two parts to the name and that the name of the disorder is not 
"Nosema," but "Nosema-disease." It is suggested, therefore, that the name be written, for the present 
at least, as a compound word. By so doing the difficulty which has been experienced by some will be 
avoided. 
* While working on a disorder which had received the common name "Isle of Wight disease," Fantham 
and Porter (1911), in England, encountered a protozoan parasite belonging to the group Microsporidia 
which they identified as being Nosema apis. In selecting a technical name for the disorder caused by the 
parasite they chose the term "Microsporidiosis," derived, as will be observed, from the group name Micro- 
sporidia, under which the parasite is classified. The name is, therefore, an appropriate one. The term 
has received some criticism on account of its length and possibly on account of its not being readily 
understood. 
As the parasite is now believed to belong to the genus "Nosema," the writer begs to suggest that as a 
technical name for the disorder the term "nosemosis" would have some arguments in its favor. This 
is not to be interpreted as proposing a substitute for the earlier term "Microsporidiosis." It is meant, 
rather, as an explanation of it. 
