4 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



bees in the temperate zone that produce workers 

 and dwell in communities. 



The true humble - bees comprise the genus 

 Bombus. 1 Seventeen different species of them are 

 found in the British Isles. In addition, there are 

 six British species of the genus Psithyrus, 2 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 /3jyu/3os (Latin bombus), humming, buzzing. Dr. Feltoe has kindly 

 called my attention to an interesting passage in Theokritos (Idyll m. 12 ft".): 

 " Would I were a humming-bee (jSofilSevaa fj.e\ur<r<x), and could enter thy cave, 

 penetrating the ivy and the fern under which thou dost conceal thyself." But 

 l3op.l3v\i6s was the word usually employed for the humble-bee, e.g. by Aristo- 

 phanes, Wasps, 107, and by Ari>totle, Hist. Anim. ix. 40 and 43. 



2 Pronounced psithirus. From Greek \f/idvpos, whispering, twittering, per- 

 haps in allusion to their softer hum. 



