558 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
bacilli, nor have I succeeded better with the food 
provided to worker larvae ; so that, although I would 
not dogmatise, my strong opinion is that, commonly, 
neither honey nor pollen carry the disease, but that 
the feet and antennae of the bees usually do. In a 
somewhat different malady, Empusa musci of the 
house-fly, the germs are known to take effect by 
settling on the spiracles, or between the abdominal 
rings, and the spiracle of the bee, in all its stages, 
may be the especially vulnerable part. 
The bee-keeper is, unfortunately, almost compelled to 
become himself a probable cause of infection. His 
hands, made adhesive by propolis, carry the spores or 
bacilli, and so may transfer them, even hours later, to 
healthy hives. The clothes should be kept, as far as 
practicable, from contact with suffering colonies, and 
the hands, after manipulating them, should be disin- 
fected by washing with a weak solution of mercuric 
chloride (corrosive sublimate), -i-oz. in one gallon of water 
being quite strong enough. It must be remembered 
that this drug is a violent poison, and the solution 
should be kept in a bottle, so that a little may be just 
poured over the fingers, and then distributed over the 
hands, which may afterwards he washed in the usual 
way. The solution, at the strength given, will not 
injure the skin, and is the fluid used in laboratories 
for the purpose given, where deadly germs are in 
cultivation. Bacillus alvei is not harmful to human 
beings, even if applied to wounds. 
Our third head now demands our attention. In what 
way can we most successfully, if at all, treat and eradi- 
cate this pest ? Although ever an earnest advocate 
