> Disappearing disease of honey bees has been observed by beekeepers in at least 27 states and in every geographical region of the United States. Inspectors describe occasions when adult worker bees disappeared during periods of cool, damp weather or when an adult population failed to build up for no identifiable reason. One large scale queen breeder and several commercial beekeepers indicated that they had experienced DD and that in some cases large numbers of colonies were affected.

> Why are pesticides so often listed as the primary cause of dwindling/disappearing-bee problem? In the past, people have been inclined to "think" pesticides, often without thoroughly investigating all aspects of the bee losses. In fact, if an inspector's repertoire of bee experience does not contain information of DD, the DD/dwindling or loss would be diagnosed as pesticide-related on the basis of the general signs and symptoms. One inspector commented, "if you haven't heard of DD, what else fits the situation except pesticides?"

> Certainly with both pesticide-related and DD-caused bee losses, the adult population of a colony may be reduced rapidly to a "handful" of bees or, in some cases, the entire population may be lost. However, in the case of pesticide poisoning, there is usually evidence of a pesticide application

from "Disappearing Disease of Honey Bees", Wilson and Menapace, ABJ March 1979

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