4 THE HUMBLE-BEE 1 
bees in the temperate zone that produce workers 
and dwell in communities. 
The true humble-bees comprise the genus 
Bombus.' Seventeen different species of them are 
found in the British Isles. In addition, there are 
six British species of the genus Psithyrus,” com- 
prising the parasitic humble-bees. 
Most of the British species of humble-bees are 
black with bright yellow bands, which, however, 
are sometimes absent, and with a white, orange, 
or red tail. The remaining species are more or 
less yellow or tawny. 
Humble-bees are essentially inhabitants of the 
north, and they flourish best at about the latitude of 
Britain. Europe, Central Asia, and North America 
are well populated with them, especially the moun- 
tainous regions. Even in Greenland, Alaska, and 
other dreary tracts in the far north, where the 
summer is too short for the existence of honey-bees, 
a few species are to be found, working diligently 
during the light nights. ‘‘ Others,” in the words of 
Shuckard, “occur far away to the north of east, 
booming through the desolate wilds of Kamtchatka, 
having been found at Sitka, and their cheerful hum 
is heard within the Arctic Circle as high as Boothia 
Felix, thus more northerly than the seventieth 
1 Greek BéuBos (Latin doméus), humming, buzzing. Dr. Feltoe has kindly 
called my attention to an interesting passage in Theokritos (/dy// iii. 12 ff.): 
** Would I were a humming-bee (SouSetoa uédooa), and could enter thy cave, 
penetrating the ivy and the fern under which thou dost conceal thyself.” But 
BouBudés was the word usually employed for the humble-bee, e.g. by Aristo- 
phanes, Wass, 107, and by Aristotle, Azst. Anzm. ix. 40 and 43. 
* Pronounced fsithirus. From Greek yiéupos, whispering, twittering, per- 
haps in allusion to their softer hum. 
