42 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



Every one must, I presume, admit a general 

 acquaintance with the humble bee. From the 

 first sunny day in March to the last in September 

 she is with us, industrious, contented, and entirely 

 devoted to her own affairs, a worthy example to 

 her betters. About forty species variously habili- 

 tated in artistic patterns in black, red, brown, and 

 yellow are known in the British Isles, and are 

 familiar under various names — ^bumble bees, humble 

 bees, dumble dors, wild bees, foggie bees, field bees, 

 boom bees, hummel bees, etc. Most persons must 

 also admit a general acquaintance with her habits, 

 and will have seen her in early spring, sleek after 

 her long hibernation, and big with the projects of 

 maternity, curiously spying into dark comers in 

 search of suitable quarters where she soon hopes to 

 be mistress of an extensive menage. The desirable 

 building site for which she is prospecting on these 

 occasions is a retreat in the sunny side of a moss 

 bank, or a nook in a stone heap, or an eUgible rat- 

 hole, according to the family notions on the subject 

 prevalent among the species to which she belongs. 

 If there are any who have not made the acquaintance 

 of the humble bee at this stage of her career, there 

 will be few at all events who can plead ignorance 

 of the presence of the numerous family which she 

 brings into the world later on in the year, the indi- 

 viduals of which dihgently ransack most of our wild 

 flowers, unconsciously the while providing for next 

 year's crop of those glories of the field to dehght 

 the eye of the beauty-seeker and vex the soul of the 

 farmer. The humble bee is, above all her sisters, 

 nature's chosen high priestess to our indigenous 

 flowers, good and bad alike ; by her aid even the 



