1913 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51 



In the bumble-bee, as in the honey-bee, the female sex has two forms, a re- 

 productive form called the queen and an industrious form called the worker. The 

 queen is larger than the worker. 



Each colony contains one old queen which is the mother of the workers, of 

 which the major part of the population is composed. In the honey-bee the queen 

 is much more differentiated from the worker than in the bumble-bee. The honey- 

 bee queen is little else than a machine for laying eggs in enormous numbers. She 

 cannot gather food and is even unable to feed herself adequately. She is extremely 

 helpless and is always surrounded by the workers, who minister to her every want, 

 for, left alone, she would die. Her young are cared for by the workers. She takes 

 no part in feeding and nursing them. Her sting has lost its use as a weapon ex- 

 cept for combating rival queens. 



But the bumble-bee queen is a much less specialized and more capable insect. 

 She has not sacrificed her instincts of industry, self-preservation, and affection and 

 care of her young to the god of reproduction like the honey-bee queen. Indeed, the 

 role she has to to play as the foundress of a large establishment containing a quan- 

 tity of juicy maggots, pollen, and honey, attractive food for a host of animals 

 ranging from mammals, such as badgers, weasels and shrews down to insects and 

 mites, some of which exist solely as parasites on the bumble-bee and her brood, has 

 sharpened her wits and we find her far more intelligent, industrious, and attentive 

 to her brood than any other bee, if not any other insect. In fact, the care she be- 

 stows on her young is comparable with that shown by birds and mammals. 



Let us trace briefly the life history of a queen 'bumble-bee. It is no long mono- 

 tony, but is divided into stages, in each of which different instincts are brought 

 into play. 



The males and queens are reared towards the end of summer when the colony 

 is at the height of prosperity. The first important event in the queen's life is 

 her marriage, and this is preceded by a short courtship. The males hover around 

 trees and banks, pausing in certain places to emit a fragrant scent like the odour of 

 flowers. It seems very probable that the queens are attracted to these spots by 

 their fragrance, at any rate they meet their mates, and each pair flies away to 

 enjoy a brief honeymoon. The male, small and insignificant as he is, then ceases 

 to be useful and soon dies, and the queen immediately enters on the second stage 

 of her career, which is to find a hibemacle in which to pass her long winter sleep. 

 In England several of the common species burrow into the ground. The queen 

 chooses a slope facing north or north-west, consisting of a well-drained and friable 

 soil and buries herself to a depth of about two inches, seldom more. It is evidently 

 damp and not cold that she seeks to avoid. Indeed, the northern aspect shows 

 that she prefers a chilly site, and one may guess that the reason is that she does 

 not wish to be disturbed by the sun's rays too early in the spring before plenty of 

 flowers are out and continuous warm weather may be expected. Other species 

 find sufficient protection in out-buildings and under subbish heaps. Possibly in 

 the severer climate of Canada the burrowing queens go deeper into the ground. 

 As soon as the queen has settled herself in her winter quarters she falls into a 

 torpor, which as the cold increases grows deeper and she lies like one dead. The 

 dark and cheerless months pass and in April — some species wait till May and 

 even June — ^she awakes and quits her grave. Keeping herself active and warm 

 with the nectar she sucks from the willow-catkins, maples, and other flowers, she 

 soon looks for a place in which to establish a colony. In England this is almost 

 always a nest that has been made and afterwards vacated by field-mice, voles, or 



