788 



proboscis, so that it is not enabled to reach the nec- 

 tary ; but this difficulty does not intimidate the Bom- 

 but, for, from a series of recent observations, made 

 both in this country and in France, it is certain, that 

 the humble-bee has the instinct to alight upon the 

 base of the flower, gnaw a hole through it with its 

 jaws, and thus extract the honey. When it has 

 taken its fill of this delightful beverage, it returns 

 home, where it has duties to perform ; for instead of 

 using the honey thus gathered for its own nourish- 

 ment, it carefully explores the cells to discover the 

 fitness of them, and then inserting its head and part 

 of its thorax into one of them, it unfolds its tongue, 

 compresses the wings of its body, and disgorges From 

 its mouth the honey, clear and bright. The hairiness 

 of the body of the bee renders the collection of pol- 

 len an easy matter, and it is no uncommon thing to 

 see a humble-bee come out of a scarlet poppy, a per- 

 fect sweep, entirely covered with the black farina ; or 

 out of a holly-hock, with his jacket as white as a 

 miller's : this pollen is afterwards gathered together 

 in lumps and deposited in the pollen plates, upon the 

 posterior tibix, by the assistance of the pollen brushes, 

 the structure of which is similar to those of the hive- 

 bee, only we here observe one of those remarkable 

 and interesting facts, which so amply prove the truth 

 of the saying, " natura maxime in rninimis observanda." 

 The female hive-bee takes no share in the labours of 

 the hive ; they do not possess pollen plates, which 

 would, of course, be useless to them ; but the female 

 Bombi, which join with the neuters in all the labours 

 of the nest, are like them furnished with pollen 

 plates. And it is owing to this necessity existing for 

 the social good of the community, that the female 

 Bombi ex'.iibit none of that savage ferocity towards 

 each other, which we have seen to exist in the queen of 

 the hive against even the nymphs of a supposed rival. 

 When fully established, a nest generally contains 

 fifty or sixty individuals ; but Reaumur counted one 

 hundred and fifty empty cells in one nest ; and oc- 

 casionally, but very rarely, the number of inhabitants 

 are stated to amount to two or even three hundred ; 

 and now it is that a division of labour takes place. 

 Some take the duty of increasing the size of the nest, 

 and, for this purpose, unite in bringing moss to the 

 nest, just as we see labourers digging stone from 

 quarries, and wheeling it one by one in barrows for 

 short distances, and then consigning it to the next of 

 their companions. In like manner, a file of bees, 

 sometimes amounting to half-a-dozen, is formed be- 

 tween the nest and the heap of moss, the heads of 

 the bees being turned from the nest, and towards the 

 moss. The bee nearest to the moss seizes and de- 

 taches a piece with its jaws, and rolls it into a little 

 bundle with its fore-legs, which it pushes under its 

 belly and passes to the next bee, and so on until it 

 reaches the nest. Others now construct pillars of 

 wax, supporting the columns ; others prepare the 

 food and feed the grubs ; others see to the neatness 

 of the nest, removing all useless things from its in- 

 terior ; and others go abroad to collect honey and 

 pollen, with which they return loaded, and deposit it 

 in the cells. Some, however, probably males, appear 

 to be less solicitous in working, and more disposed to 

 enjoy themselves with the good things of this life. 

 To use the words of Rusticius, " the humble-bees OH 

 a sun-flower are very odd mannered. They get as 

 drunk as Bacchus or Silenus ; then they get as sleepy 

 as Morpheus, and cross as Cerberus ; if you touch 



HUMBLE PLANT. 



one, he leans on one side, cocking up the opposite 

 legs into the air, and plays divers other antics, till, 



with his various trials to show that he is sober and 

 able to fight and defend himself, he sidles, staggers, 

 rolls, and falls to the ground, and there lays on his 

 back till he has slept himself sober." 



Bombus lapidarius, a, mandible of the male; b, mandible of 

 the female. 



It only remains to notice the distinctions by which 

 the sexes of these insects may be known, by persons 

 desirous of observing their economy. The males are 

 of the middle size, but vary in this repect at different 

 periods of the year, as above stated ; their jaws are 

 narrow, and terminated by two teeth, and on the 

 outside they are clothed with long hairs ; moreover, 

 their colours are occasionally different from the indi- 

 viduals of the other sex. The females are the largest 

 inhabitants of the nests ; the foundress bee being also 

 larger than any other female subsequently produced ; 

 the jaws in this sex are very broad, and spoon- 

 shaped. The neuters, of which, according to Reau- 

 mur, there are two sizes, are either as large as the 

 males, or much smaller ; these have the jaws simi- 

 larly constructed to those of the females, so that it is 

 difficult to distinguish them, except by their size, and 

 it appears to us thence probable, that the description 

 of the larger neuters given by Reaumur is applicable 

 rather to the early produced and smaller females, and 

 which is confirmed by the statement of Huber, that 

 many of the spring workers couple with the early 

 summer males, a fact which the organization of the 

 former would necessarily prevent, if, as we must 

 infer, the analogy between the neuter hive, and 

 humble, bee exist in all its circumstances. 



It is a curious circumstance, that a group of bees, 

 having all the appearance, and indeed general struc- 

 tural characters of the humble-bees, are destitute, as 

 Mr. Kirby first observed, of any apparatus for car- 

 rying masses of wrought pollen upon their hind- 

 legs, "the females and neuters of these apes exhibiting 

 those characters which are peculiar to the males of 

 the rest of the family. I suspect that they nidificate 

 underground." Kirby Mon. Ap. Augh. i. 210. These 

 bees have subsequently been formed into a distinct 

 genus, under the name of Psithyrus, St. Farg., and it is 

 now supposed by hymenopterists, that they are par- 

 asitic in their habits, in which respect the possession 

 of neuters (which have never yet been described in 

 any of the species) would be contrary to nature, and 

 it will be observed that their nidification under 

 ground rests only upon the suspicion of Mr. Kirby, 

 expressed more than thirty years ago, but which has 

 never yet been confirmed. 



HUMBLE PLANT is the Mimosa pudica of 

 Linnaeus. The movements of the leaves and leaflets 

 of these vegetables, upon the slightest touch, have 

 always excited attention, but the immediate cause has 

 hitherto buffted all philosophers to explain satisfac- 



