548 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
it to accommodate 100,000,000 spores of this organism, 
which stands to the egg itself as a single drop to 
1500 gallons. Following this line, and knowing that 
foul brood had in some cases appeared to be more 
particularly destructive amongst the smaller larvae, I 
not unnaturally judged that, possibly, in these cases 
the egg contained the germs of the disease at the 
time of deposition. I communicated my suspicions to 
several owners of large apiaries, explaining what 
would be the probable peculiarities of genetic foul 
brood, if such a form really existed. Mr. Hart soon 
after sent me a queen from a hive which presented 
the indicated symptoms — viz., the early death of the 
larvae ; the earnestness of the bees in attempting to 
raise a new queen, although their number was so 
small that swarming was out of the question — this 
earnestness seeming to indicate that they were con- 
scious of some unfitness about the mother, which they 
desired to remedy by displacing her ; and lastly, a 
continuance of their hospitality to drones at a period 
of the season when other stocks had destroyed theirs. 
The queen was alive at her arrival, and I forth- 
with began a careful dissection. Having removed the 
left air-sac, which lies within the first and second 
abdominal rings, and which was very much above the 
average size — a constant indication of the presence of 
bacilli — I came upon the ovary, of which I had pre- 
viously removed many dozens. This one w'as abnor- 
mally yellow, and very soft, so that it was difficult to 
detach it from the larger external tracheae without 
tearing ; but a separated ovarian tube, placed under a 
second microscope, magnifying 250 diameters, at once 
