I am wondering if this plague in adult male bees
in the article clip below, is in reference to Isle of 
Wight disease.  

Why the reference to 'adult male honeybees'?
I am suspecting this is a typo, and should 
perhaps, have read 'adult bees'?

The 'strange plague' comment has me wondering.
By 1920,  it was known that a mite was the 
cause, by 1921 it was widely published in
journals to be caused by a mite, yet,
reference to a 'strange plague' is what
I do not understand.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

=====Article Clip=====

“Because adult male honeybees are now
subject to a strange plague in many
foreign lands, importing of bees through
United States mails was forbidden by
recent order….”

Popular Mechanics
Oct 1923
Page 525

http://books.google.com/books?id=XdoDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA525&dq=%22male%20honeybees%22%20plague&pg=PA525#v=onepage&q&f=false

Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/

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