364 
FOUL BROOD 
Combs showing the irregular, mottled, scattered cells with their perforated and sunken cappings of American 
foul brood. 
more dead larva; appear, one may assume 
there is no disease. 
On the other hand, if one finds larvae 
that are dead and an increasing number 
of them as the days go by, especially if 
they are brown or yellow, he may suspect 
trouble. If the dead larvae seem to melt 
down, lying on the lower side of the cell, 
and if, further, they turn yellow or brown, 
and take on a tenacious, gluey consistency, 
it is an indication of American foul brood. 
If a common toothpick, thrust into the dead 
matter, and given a little twist, and drawn 
out, leaves a fine thread two or three inches 
long, it is an indication of American foul 
brood. If nearly all the dead larvae, espe¬ 
cially those in sealed cells, show this ropy 
or stringy appearance the indication of 
American is very much stronger. In this 
connection it should be stated that Euro¬ 
pean foul brood in some stages will rope; 
but the thread is coarser, somewhat lumpy, 
and is more of a salve-like consistency. 
Only occasional cells will show a tendency 
to rope, and even then after considei’able 
poking. The occasional ropy cells prove 
nothing. 
The roping test, alone, must not be con¬ 
sidered as conclusive that the disease is 
American. If, after a few days, some of 
the dead matter dries down into a hard 
scale so that it can not be removed with¬ 
out destroying the cell to which it is at¬ 
tached, one may conclude that he has real 
American foul brood. While the scale of 
European will dry down, it seldom or never 
adheres tightly to the cell wall. Once 
more: 
