Humble Bee. INSECTS. Moss-builders. 199 
can have failed in early spring, when the catkins are 
first found on the willow, to notice the loud hum of the 
females of different species of Bomhi; and in May, 
when the horse-chesnut blooms, from the break to the 
close of day the hum of these industrious bees is 
unceasing. Various authors have written on the econ- 
omy of these bees. In the winter, torpid females are 
found in decayed trunks of trees, under turf-stacks, or 
in other sheltered and dry situations. These females, 
having passed the winter in a torpid condition, revive 
under the influence of the warmth of spring, and 
become each the foundress of a separate colony. The 
first nests which they construct are of small dimensions, 
only sufficient to contain a few cells, in which they 
rear the workers who assist them in the formation of 
the works necessary to the wants of a large colony. 
When the larvffi are full grown, they spin a tough, oval, 
silk cocoon, in which they assume the nymph state; 
and, when sufficiently advanced towards maturity to 
require food, they begin to gnaw off the crown of their 
imprisoning chamber, in doing which they are assisted 
materially by the workers. On first emerging from 
their confinement they are by no means matured. 
Their pubescence is of a uniform pale colour, and some 
days elapse before thej^ acquire the gay livery which they 
have assumed ere they fly. The males and females are 
not reared before the season is well advanced. The 
males of the Bombus praiorum are the first that appear, 
beginning to come forth about the third week in May. 
The nests are infested by several insects which devour 
the wax and honey, and with others which destroy the 
young brood. 
The Humble bees have likewise a parasitic genus of 
bees, which live in their nests. They form a separate 
genus called Apathm. I do not know what office 
these bees perform in the economy of the nest. They 
live on the most friendly terms with the industrious 
part of the community ; and it is probable that upon 
them devolves some important office, the nature of 
which it would be very interesting to discover. It 
has been supposed, from the very close resemblance 
of the Apathi to the Bombi, that the former are an 
idle race, reared at- the expense of the industrious 
bees, and wearing a livery in imitation of them for 
the purpose of deception; but there can be little 
doubt of these aristocrats of the community perform- 
ing important and necessary duties highly conducive 
to the general prosperity of the whole. That the 
close resemblance of these bees is not for the pur- 
pose of deception, is at once proved by the fact of 
Apaihus barhutellus, a yellow-banded bee, being found 
in the nest of Bombus Derhamellus, a black species, 
having the tip of the body red. 
The numbers of which the societies of Humble-bees 
consist, vary greatly in different species. Generally 
speaking, those, whose nest is above ground, have the 
smallest number. In a nest of Bombus senilis were 
found twenty-two females, forty-four workers, and six- 
teen males, many of the males having left the nest. Of 
undeveloped workers the combs contained twenty-seven 
pupse, and nine of males. Of empty cells believed to 
have held males, there were ten, making a total of one 
hundred and twenty-eight. In a nest of Bombus fra- 
grans, a species met with in the north, five females and 
about twenty workers were taken, so that it is a species 
with a small community. The nest of Bombus terresiris, 
taken in August, contained thirty-five females, twenty 
males, and one hundred and sixty workers ; but by this 
time the majority of the males and females had left the 
nest. There were found in this nest, besides, two 
females of Apaihus vesialis, and nine of the males of 
that parasite. The Moss-builders among the Humble 
bees appear to have very little pugnacity, as they show 
no courage in the defence of their citadel, while the 
underground nest builders are bold insects, and defend 
their homes, when attacked, with gTeat courage. 
The species called Moss-builders often compose their 
nests of nothing but grass and leaves, although in 
situations, where moss is abundant, they use it in the 
construction of their habitations. To show that these 
diligent hairy creatures make use of such materials as 
come most readily to them, an interesting instance 
has been recorded : — “ One of the brown species of 
Humble bees was observed frequently flying into a 
stable through the latticed window. The bee was 
busily engaged in collecting bundles of short horse- 
hair accumulated from the currying of horses. This 
she fled off with to a short distance, and settled down 
with it among some grass. On examining the spot, 
a nest composed entirely of horse-hair was discovered.” 
Unfortunately this interesting nest was destroyed, 
before it was quite finished. The same author men- 
tions another curious deviation from its usual site, 
as selected by an eccentric black Humble bee with 
yellow bands (Bombus pratorum^i). This was the nest 
of a robin, which built in the porch of Dr. William Bell’s 
cottage at Putney in the summer of 1854. The 
Humble bee took possession of this nest, and adapted 
it to her own purposes. 
No fewer than eighteen species of true Bombus have 
been described as occurring in Great Britain, but we 
have not space for them. 
We have alluded under the preceding genus to 
Apaihus, which closely resembles it in most particulars, 
though the posterior tibiffi have no corbiculse, and are 
convex on the outside. There are only males and 
females of the Apathi. Four species are described as 
natives of this country. 
Read this distinguishing description of a Humble 
bee by Professor Wilson, the far-famed Christopher 
North.* How often he had watched them on the moors 
of Renfrewshire, and on the hills of Scotland and 
Westmoreland ! 
“ True to thy time, even to a balmy minute, art 
thou, with thy velvet tunic of black, striped with yellow, 
as thou windest thy small but not sullen horn, by ns 
called in our pride humble bee; but not, metbinks, 
so very humble, while booming high in air in oft- 
repeated circles. As if the smell of some far off darling 
heather had touched thy finest instinct, away thou 
fleest straight southward to that rich flower-store, 
unerringly as the carrier pigeon wafting to distant lands 
some love message on its wings. Yet humble after 
all thou art; for all day making thy industry thy 
delight, thou returiiest at shut of day cheerful even Ih 
* Recreations of C. N., vol. ii., p. 48. 
