logous to typhus, jail or ship-fever) spreads through the
whole hive, unless promptly checked by removing the cause and thoroughly
cleansing the hive.

Foul-brood sometimes attacks our American hives, and, though the cause
may not be known, yet from the hints given above we hope to have the
history of our species of Phora cleared up, should our disease be found
to be sometimes due to the attacks of such a parasitic fly.

[Illustration: 33. Bee Louse and Larva.]

We figure the Bee louse of Europe (Fig. 33 b, Braula caeca), which is a
singular wingless spider-like fly, allied to the wingless Sheep tick
(Melophagus), the wingless Bat tick (Nycteribia) and the winged Horse
fly (Hippobosca). The head is very large, without eyes or ocelli (simple
eyes), while the ovate hind-body consists of five segments, and is
covered with stiff hairs. It is one-half to two-thirds of a line long.
This spider fly is "pupiparous," that is, the young, of which only a
very few are produced, is not born until it has assumed the pupa state
or is just about to do so. The larva (Fig. 33 _a_) is oval,
eleven-jointed, and white in color. The very day it is hatched, it sheds
its skin and changes to an oval puparium of a dark brown color.

Its habits resemble those of the flea. Indeed, should we compress its
body strongly, it would bear a striking resemblance to that insect. It
is evidently a connecting link between the flea, and the two winged
flies. Like the former it lives on the body of its host, and obtains its
food by plunging its stout beak into the bee and sucking its blood.

It has not been noticed in this country, but is liable to be imported on
the bodies of Italian bees. Generally, one or two of the Braulas may, on
close examination, be detected on the body of the bee; sometimes the
poor bees are loaded down by as many as a hundred of these hungry
blood-suckers. Assmuss recommends rubbing them off with a feather, as
the bee goes in and out of the door of its hive.

[Illustration: 34. Hive Trichodes.]

Among the beetles are a few forms occasionally found in bees' nests and
also parasitic on the body of the bee. Trichodes apiarius (Fig. 34, _a_,
larva; _b_, pupa, front view) has long been known in Europe to attack
the young bees. In its perfect, or beetle state it is found on flowers,
like our Trichodes Nuttallii, which is commonly found on the Spiraea in
August, and which may yet prove to enter our beehives. The larva devours
the broo