'Humble bee, humble bee, where are you flying? Humble bee, humble bee, where are you hieing? Oh! yours is a life With sweet pleasures rife. M 177 The bloom of the flower Humble bee, humble bee, happy are you, HE common English name of humble bee is supposed to be derived from the German, Hummel, or Hummel biene, and has doubtless been bestowed on account of the humming noise the insect makes. Every child recognises the great booming humble bee, or 'Bumbler, as it is familiarly called, with its rich, black, fur-like coat, and bands of yellow, so fussy in its consequential activity, rifling every blossom it comes near, buzzing with incessant hum as it flits from flower to flower, raising a more angry voice if chased or interrupted in its labour. Yet a good-natured, generous insect is the humble bee; and instances are known of how they have been coaxed, after much stroking and licking, by hive bees to part with their honey-bags, and then have contentedly flown away once more to collect a fresh supply. We even read of their being at times so jovial and reckless in their carousals over the nectar of some favourite blossom, as weakly to abandon themselves to such a sad state of excess, that they have been seen sprawling and tumbling about the ground, unable decently to find their way home. They are at all times a happy, social set, living in harmonious societies of their own, often as many as two hundred being found to inhabit the same nest. The yellow-banded humble bee-Bombus terrestris -makes its dwelling in the ground, as does also that equally common red-tailed humble bee, Bombus lapidarius. Very irregular are the cells it forms-not to be compared in geometric beauty to the perfect constructions of the hive bee, though I believe it is said to collect purer honey. Only a few females survive the winter, and these may be seen creeping forth from some sheltered nook at the first blink of spring sunshine, when the earliest catkin of the willow is bursting into flower, and the delicate primrose unfolding its buds in smiling beauty. The one from which my sketch is made, I captured in March as it hovered, with cheerful hum, over the blossoms of a white nettle. It was doubtless about to commence operations, and lay the foundations of a new colony. A grassy bank, or hedge-row, where the ground is thickly intersected with roots, is the locality most frequently selected for this purpose. If a cavity made by a mole, or any insect, is not to be readily found, the bee will unhesitatingly set to work to make one for herself, and, after great labour, succeed in excavating a hole to the depth often of a foot and more below the surface, and sufficient in diameter to allow of two bees passing. In this she arranges her nest, the wonderful instinct of her nature directing her where to find material, and how to proceed in her erection, without the aid of any architectural knowledge. Very rude is the construction of her waxen cells, with little or no attempt at precision or regularity. Into each she places a store of pollen and honey, and depositing six or seven eggs in the midst, closes up the mouth with wax. Thus, when the eggs are hatched, the larvæ are surrounded by a substance serving both for food and protection. Over these the mother watches with constant attention and fondest care; and as the larvæ, feeding on the food nearest to them, gradually thin the original crust, she hastens to renew with fresh paste all the weakened parts. Should the weather be cold, she mounts upon and imparts warmth by brooding over them, much as a hen would do over her chickens. When the larva is fully grown, each incloses itself in a silken cocoon, of an oval form; and in course of time the first brood-which consists of workers, and always forms the most numerous part of the community-comes forth from the stage of pupahood, and the labour of the founder is then divided, she being now assisted in providing for and attending upon the wants of the succeed 180 The Humble Bee. It ing broods, which consist of males and females. appears strange that a different kind of food seems necessary for these, which are nourished with pure honey, whilst the workers, in their grub state, have been fed with a mixture of honey and pollen. The cocoons which have contained the pupæ are afterwards used to hold the honey, the workers carefully cutting off the fragments of silk from the orifice, and strengthening it with a rim of wax, thus giving it a thimble-like form. Into these honey-pots the bees, returning from their excursions, empty or pour their wealth. And thus in harmony they live, until the autumn months return-until 'The warm sun is failing, The bleak wind is wailing,' and the last beauteous, honey-yielding blossoms fade away; then the males and neuter humble bees become weak and enfeebled 'Fall as the leaves do, and die in October,', having fulfilled their allotted tasks. Many females also die, whilst others, hidden beneath some mass of moss, or sheltered in the bark of an old tree, better protected from the nipping frosts of winter, rest in a torpid state, and without food, until the warmth of spring returnsuntil, as we read in the Song of Solomon, "The winter is past, The rain is over and gone, The flowers appear upon the earth, And the time of the singing of birds is come.' Then the humble bee, like the blossoms around her, awakes from her winter sleep, and sets to work, as I have told you, to make a fresh home for herself, and found a new city. Though the internal structure of all humble bees' nests is much the same, some differ from the Bombus terrestris in forming them on the surface of the soil, instead of under ground, and such habitations are composed principally of moss. Mowers in the hay field frequently come upon the nest of the carder bee The Humble Bee. 181 Bombus muscorum-which is not so large an insect as our common 'Bumbler,' yet stouter than the honey bee, and builds a dainty and luxuriant palace. A little mossy dome, well lined and supported with wax, is first made, and then a covered passage, or gallery, about a foot long, which leads to the interior of the nest, and thus more effectually conceals it from view. The method adopted to collect the moss necessary for this construction is most interesting and curious. When only one bee, as often happens, undertakes the foundations of a new colony, the labour is very tedious, as, being unable to fly with any great load, it can only gather its material by pushing it backwards along the ground, until it reaches its building site; but where there are four or five bees engaged in the work, their wonderful instinct has taught them how to divide the labour, and save time. Stationing themselves in a line, one immediately behind the other, the foremost bee, with its teeth and fore legs, packs up a neat little bundle of moss, and passes it, under its body, from one pair of legs to the other, thrusting it out as far as possible with the hindmost. There the second bee takes it up and does likewise, pushing it on to a third, who again consigns it to his neighbour behind him; and thus it is conveyed to the nest, much in the same way, so we read, ‘as a file of labourers transfer a parcel of cheeses from a vessel or cart to a warehouse.' Few amongst us have not, at one time or another, been amused to watch 'the cheerful bee' buzz from blossom to blossom, extracting "The rich and various sweets,' nor passing one unheeded; 'Yet o'er the stem, though fair it grow, With touch rejecting, glance and go.' An easy matter it seemed to dive amongst the petals of an open rose, or even 'Explore the foxglove's freckled bell;' but more ingenuity was required to effect an entrance |