FOUL BROOD 
365 
If, on careful examination, one finds 
here and there a few dead pupae—that is, 
young bees almost fully developed—lying 
on their backs with their tongues project¬ 
ing upward, sometimes full length and 
sometimes half way, he may be reasonably 
sure that he has the American before him. 
Sometimes these upwardly projecting 
tongues seem to be glued to the upper wall 
of the cell. Sometimes they project upward 
only half way; but wherever these project¬ 
ing tongues are found it is a pretty sure in¬ 
dication of American foul brood. So far 
as the author knows, these projecting 
tongues are never found in the European. 
The name “foul brood” suggests a foul 
odor. In the ease of American the smell 
is very much like that of a cabinetmaker’s 
gluepot. With European there is a sour 
or musty smell in the first stages. In the 
later stages of European the odor is very 
bad, reminding one of dead fish or old 
carrion that has been allowed to stand for 
a considerable length of time. The odor 
of American foul brood is not nauseating, 
but nevertheless it is quite characteristic. 
Neither is the odor of European foul 
brood nauseating in its early stages. Some¬ 
times it is very hard to detect any odor. In 
the later stages of European the odor is 
“just awful.” It seems to be a combina¬ 
tion of the odor from dead animals or fish, 
with the suggestion of ammonia and of 
decay. 
One who is expert can very often locate 
the disease by these odors; but it should be 
remembered that the odor alone is by no 
means conclusive; but in connection with 
the other symptoms it is very helpful in 
enabling one to decide what form of brood 
disease he has. 
On one occasion the author located a 
colony having foul brood by an occasional 
whiff he could catch at the entrance; but 
it was nearly a week after that when he 
found one cell containing dead matter. Ap¬ 
parently, the colony had nearly cured it¬ 
self. But there still remained a character¬ 
istic odor which could not be eliminated. 
Experience shows that a colony which seems 
to cure itself does not stay cured. The 
stock may be vigorous enough to keep the 
disease down, to some extent; but an occa¬ 
sional cell will manifest itself for several 
years, and in the mean time be a constant 
source of infection to all the rest of the 
apiary. There might be some colonies that 
would not be able to resist, hence the 
danger. 
THE ODOR OF DEAD BEES LIKE THAT OF 
AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 
Sometimes one can detect a gluepot odor 
at the entrance of one of the hives. He 
may be alarmed and conclude that, be¬ 
cause he has perceived the unmistakable 
smell, the disease is surely present in his 
apiary. This fear will be dissipated if he 
understands that the same foul-brood odor, 
or at least one very much like it, may have 
come from a lot of putrid dead bees after 
a severe winter. These dead bees may be 
found in the hive or at the entrance. 
Again, overheated brood or chilled brood, 
if neglected until it fairly rots, will give 
off a similar odor. 
PINHOLE PERFORATIONS. 
There is a kind of pinhole perforation 
that does not signify anything wrong — 
indeed, quite the contrary. As bees seal 
up their brood, there is a stage when there 
will be a small round hole in the center of 
the cap. Sometimes these holes are not 
closed up, and then there is what is called 
bareheaded brood. But the perforations in 
bareheaded brood are very different from 
the perforations in cells containing foul 
brood, either American or European. The 
bad cells will have sunken cappings. The 
perforations are ragged, triangular, and 
the edges appear to be somewhat greasy, 
while in the perforations in bareheaded 
brood the cappings are slightly convex, 
and the hole is circular. 
HOW AMERICAN FOUL BROOD IS CARRIED TO 
NEIGHBORING HIVES. 
When a colony is badly affected the dis¬ 
ease has progressed to such a stage that 
the probabilities are that other colonies in 
the same locality are affected, especially 
those having entrances pointing in the 
same direction Or similarly located. At this 
point the beekeeper should be warned that 
colonies next to the one badly affected are 
very apt to show the disease. This is ex¬ 
plained on the ground that young bees, and 
even the adult ones become more or less 
confused at their entrances, and so get into 
