72 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
and then transmuting the cadaver of the imma- 
ture bee into a brown, viscous, ill-smelling 
slime ; and this latter, when examined micro- 
scopically under high powers, is seen to be 
peopled by countless extremely minute oscil- 
latory rods — bacteria, in fact. But, on the 
other hand, the chilled bee larva dies and falls 
into corruption according to the general law, 
with the development of bacterial life, without 
which, in one or other form, decay of animal 
tissues does not commonly proceed. Apart 
from the stench regarded as characteristic of 
foul brood, and which I do not. recognise in 
the cells of the outer frames above alluded to, 
but which may nevertheless be there and 
recognisable by persons with higher olfactory 
powers than the writer ; apart from the 
characteristic unpleasant odour, 1 find in the 
outer frames what appears to me as answering 
to all the characteristics of foul brood, includ- 
ing the presence of bacteria; but taking the 
juices of a crushed moribund bee from the 
same hive, I fail to find evidence of bacterial 
life in the latter. What, then, Messrs. 
Editors, 1 should be glad to learn is, the way 
to distinguish the concomitants of decay of the 
bee larva in its cell through chilling, from 
those of the decay consequent upon the 
disease known as foul brood, and pervading 
the colony in every stage of bee life and 
transformation ? 
Does foul brood originate in chilling? 
While some larvae arc killed by the cold and 
die in their cells, is it possible, and can it be 
proved, that others escape death by a narrow 
chance, and emerge with the seeds of bacterial 
disease pervading their tissues, to disseminate 
it through those of their progeny, and thus 
depopulate the hive ? The disease must have 
a traceable origin in each case, but in what 
direction are we to seek it ? If the purely 
speculative suggestion which I have ventured 
to make could be verified in cases of emerging 
drones or queens, it seems to my mind that 
the question of foul brood would identify 
itself with that of temperature of the hive 
and its regulation during the winter months. 
I may add that I have given but little 
attention to the subject of foul brood, and 
have ventured to submit these guesses con- 
cerning the origin of the disease with the hope 
of eliciting the opinions of observant bee- 
keepers, or what \\ ould be even more valuable, 
their actual experience in distinguishing the 
symptoms of death from chill from those of 
the incipient stages of foul brood, and espe- 
cially anything which can throw light on the 
origin of the latter hereditary disease. 
Phenyl is a reputed specific cure for foul 
brood, but a still more effective cure would 
seem to be promised could we succeed in 
discovering the first nidus, the primary origin 
of the disease. We could then, in all proba- 
bility, instead of curing the disease as often 
as it occurred, banish it altogether from our 
stocks. — Very obediently yours, 
G. F. 
Melbourne, 17th June, 1886. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
How to find Black Queens. — I have 
found a way of finding the queen in ten 
minutes, without staring your eyes out, and I 
almost said, to an absolute certainty— for it 
has not failed in a single instance of half-a- 
dozen trials. My neighbour, A. C. Moore, is 
the inventor of the scheme. We help one 
another a good deal in bee work, and mutually 
profit by one another’s experience. I had 
three or four hives 1 had worn myself out on 
trying to find the black queens and get them 
out. He had pretty good success with his 
own, and proffered to help me. After spend- 
ing the whole of a hot afternoon in August 
without finding a single queen, most of his 
conceit oozed out, along with the sweat of his 
face. Next day he tried one of his own, with 
the same result, when he thought of fastening 
a perforated zinc honey-board into the bottom 
of the upper story in such a way as to sit down 
over the brood-frames, leaving no way of 
egress around it. Into this he lifted all the 
frames and bees, and also brushed in all the 
bees from the brood-box and bottom board ; 
then putting bottom-board and brood-box in 
place, he took up the combs one by one, and 
brushed all the bees back into the story with 
the zinc in the bottom, placing frames in 
brood-box again. As soon as all were out, he 
put the cover on the story with the bees in it, 
and set it on the brood-chamber. Then he 
left them twenty minutes or so, and on taking 
up the cover he found that all the bees had 
gone down through the honey-board .into the 
brood-chamber except the queen and a few 
retainers, among which she was easily seen 
and caught. But when I tried it, the lees 
wouldn’t go down of themselves ; so instead of 
the cover, I drew over them some mosquito- 
netting and smoked them down. At first I 
had my doubts, thinking the queen could get 
through the perforations if she would try 
seriously ; but after watching a not very large 
queen for several minutes, I concluded it would 
be a very small one that did. Of course the 
queen might fly up into the air, as many of 
the bees do, and escape the trap, but so far 
they never have. — Gleanings in Bee Culture, 
A.B.C. Scholars’ Experience, December, 
1885. 
