FOUL BROOD 
373 
Again, in the case of American there 
may be found pupae, (almost fully devel¬ 
oped bees) lying on their backs, with their 
tongues extended out and pointing up¬ 
ward. Sometimes the end of the tongue 
will be stuck to the upper side of the cell. 
Sometimes it will project upward only 
about half way. These dead pupae with 
projecting tongues are never found in 
European foul brood; and their presence 
in any comb showing the general symp¬ 
toms of American, is a strong indication 
of American. When one finds almost every 
cell of the dead matter will rope, here and 
there dead pupae with their tongues pro¬ 
jecting upward, and especially if he finds 
scales that adhere tightly, he may con¬ 
clude that he has American. 
The germ causing European foul brood, 
Bacillus pint on, does not form these re¬ 
sistant spores. The germ also seems to be 
less active in the way it decomposes the 
dead larvae. According to Sturtevant, in 
European foul brood along with the or¬ 
ganism that kills the healthy larvae may 
often be found several germs which are 
secondary invaders, having no relation to 
the cause of the disease, but simply causing 
the larvae to decompose. There is one or¬ 
ganism in particular, Bacillus alvei, orig¬ 
inally supposed to be the cause of the dis¬ 
ease, which is often associated with Euro¬ 
pean foul brood in large numbers. It ap¬ 
pears that, the more of these organisms 
.there are present after Bacillus pluton kills 
the larvae, the more the appearance will 
change. Instead of the typical moist melting 
stage of the disease there are found, due to 
the action of the Bacillus alvei, more and 
more larvae that have not died until after 
they have become capped. In this stage it is 
often difficult to distinguish European from 
American foul brood, as the dead larvae may, 
before they dry down, show a tendency to 
sliminess, to rope somewhat, and develop 
the coffee-brown color. However, the way 
they rope is different from the character¬ 
istic fine thread of the American. It is 
coarsei’, at times lumpy, and too moist to 
stretch far; also, as it becomes a little 
, more dried it will stretch like an old rubber 
band; and in breaking, instead of snapping 
back it will remain stretched out. At this 
time the mass has a very disagreeable 
spoiled-meat odor. If, however, the case is 
watched for a few days longer, allowing 
the dead material to dry down, it will be 
found that these masses which generally 
lie very irregularly in the cells may be eas¬ 
ily removed entire, while in the case of 
American foul brood it is practically im¬ 
possible to remove an entire scale. Fur- 
thex-more, instead of being brittle, like the 
American scale, these irregular masses will 
bend like a piece of old rubber. 
Owing to the fact that European foul 
brood has been so neglected in California, 
due to the custom of treating for American, 
Bacillus alvei, the secondary decomposing 
organism, has increased to such numbers 
that it has changed some of the symptoms 
of the disease, in its last stages particular¬ 
ly. Therefore it is not safe to jump to 
conclusions too hastily in the ease of the 
brood diseases, since there are stages at 
which it is very difficult to differentiate 
without the aid of a microscope. If it is 
impossible to get a microscopic diagnosis, 
Mr. Sturtevant recommends that the best 
plan is to treat the case vigorously as if it 
were European foul brood by dequeening 
the colony, and in ten days requeen with 
good Italian stock and then watch devel¬ 
opments. This kind of treatment with 
good Italian stock, and making the colo¬ 
nies strong, is good beekeeping, disease‘or 
no disease, and the only way to secure a 
crop. If it is European foul brood it will 
clean up. If it is American foul brood it 
will not clean up, and soon the definite 
characteristic appearances will develop. 
This treatment as prescribed will elimi¬ 
nate the melting-up of combs in European 
foul brood, and is the safest course to pur¬ 
sue where European is known to be preva¬ 
lent. 
To recapitulate, it is apparent that thei'e 
are only two sei’ious brood diseases, the 
same as we have heretofore known. In 
the American foxxl brood no new develop¬ 
ment has aiisen. The Eur-opean, however, 
takes a later stage much resembling Ameri¬ 
can. At first all the symptoms that here¬ 
tofore have been given for European ap¬ 
pear. Later on, if nothing is done to effect 
a cure a secondary invader, Bacillus alvei', 
comes in and modifies the symptoms to 
such an extent that European takes on the 
form similar to American, bixt yields to 
the treatment of European. The Bacillus 
