Of these beautiful creatures we have thirteen kinds in this country. Their
velvety clothing and bright colours make them the favourites of most
people. They are most industrious and may be seen on the wing from early
morning often till quite late on summer evenings, whereas the solitary bees
do not, as a rule, commence work till nine or ten in the morning, except in
very hot weather, and generally retire about four or five p.m. There is an
idea prevalent that humble bees do not sting, but this is fallacious. They
can sting pretty severely, but I do not think they are so ready to use
their defensive weapon as a wasp or hive bee is. The length of the tongue
in these creatures makes them of great value to the farmer and gardener, as
they can fertilize the red clover and probably other flowers which require
a longer tongue to reach the nectary than is possessed by the hive bee.
{40} In New Zealand, when first the red clover was introduced from this
country, it was found impossible to fertilize it, and humble bees had to be
sent out. Now they are established there its fertilization is carried on
quite successfully. The humble bees are divided into two natural groups,
the underground species, i.e. those that make a subterranean nest, and the
carder bees, as they have been called, which make a nest on the surface of
the ground. The former live in much larger communities and are far more
aggressive and pugnacious than the latter. They also feed their young,
according to Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, of Ripple Court, in a different way. The
carder bees "form little pockets or pouches of wax at the side of a
wax-covered mass of growing larvae into which the workers drop the pellets
of pollen direct from their hind tibiae. The pollen storers, on the
contrary, store the newly gathered pollen in waxen cells, made for the
purpose, or in old cocoons, specially set apart to receive it, from which
it is taken and given to the larvae mixed with honey through the mouths of
the nurse-bees as required." As the author remarks, the methods of the
underground {41} species more resemble those of the hive bee than do those
of the carder bees. Mr. Sladen has made many experiments in trying to
domesticate humble bees, and succeeded so far with _Bombus terrestris_ (pl.
D, 29, our common black and yellow banded species with a tawny tail) as to
get it to breed in captivity, and in 1899 was able to show nests in full
work at the Maidstone agricultural show, the bees coming in and out of the
building to their nest. An interesting case of one of the carder bees
(_Bombus agrorum_) is recorded by F. Smith. It invaded a wren's nest,
heaping up its pollen, etc., amongst the eggs of the bird, till the parent
bird was forced to desert the nest. The underground species are more
subject to the attacks of cuckoos than the carder bees. Altogether the
humble bees afford an excellent subject for study, as they appear to be
amenable to treatment, and to any one who could give time and careful
attention to them many interesting problems connected with them and not yet
understood might have light thrown upon them. Dead humble bees are often
found in numbers in a mutilated state, under lime trees. These {42} have
been caught after they have filled themselves with honey, and become torpid
in consequence, by the great tomtit and possibly other birds. The bird
pecks a hole in the insect's thorax, enjoys the honey it has eaten and then
drops the quivering body which falls to the ground. I once had the
opportunity of seeing this slaughter going on, and was able to detect the
great tomtit as the murderer.
In colour the humble bees vary remarkably, the variation occurring chiefly
in the females. This variation is not so noticeable in this country,
although in many species even here the variability is very great, but when
we trace a common species such as _terrestris_, which varies very little
here, over a large area such as the Palaearctic region its liveries are so
diverse that its females have been treated as belonging to many different
species. In the Siberian district its yellow bands become of a pale, almost
whitish or straw colour, and the whole appearance of the insect is altered.
If, instead of going north, we go to the Mediterranean region we find a
large, fine form tolerably common, with bright yellow hairs on the legs. In
Corsica {43} again we find a quite different form; entirely black except
for the bright red hairs on the apex of the body, and bright red tibiae,
clothed with red hairs. In the Canaries another coloration occurs: the
whole insect is black with the exception of the apex of the body which is
clothed with white hairs; but in all these the male varies comparatively
little. In the Siberian and Canary forms it resembles the female, but in
the others it varies very little from some varieties we find here. A rather
similar series of varieties occurs in _Bombus hortorum_, another species
little liable to variation here. In Italy and south-east Europe a form with
entirely black body and black wings occurs, and in Corsica a black form
with reddish hairs on the apical segments. The male keeps throughout very
constant to its normal coloration. The tendency to vary towards an entirely
black form seems to exist in nearly all the species, although in Britain
black varieties of some are very rare.
* * * * *
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