bumblebees 
171 
tides on Spring Management, Spring 
Dwindling, and Feeding. 
BULK COMB HONEY. — See Comb 
Honey. 
BUMBLEBEES. —The bumblebee fam¬ 
ily, or Bombidae , includes only two genera, 
Bombus, or the nest-building bumblebees, 
and Psithyrus, or the parasitic bumblebees. 
About 234 species and varieties of Bombus 
have been described in the world and 57 of 
Bsithyrus. Bumblebees are found thruout 
North and South America, extending north¬ 
ward to Discovery Harbor, in latitude 81°; 
and to an altitude of 13,600 feet at Cuzco, 
Peru. The arctic bumblebees, which are on 
the wing less than three months, are very 
industrious and gather pollen and nectar 
from flowers for the larger part of the 24 
hours of the day. Bumblebees are also 
widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and 
North Africa, but the great Saharan deserts 
offer an effectual barrier to their south¬ 
ward extension. Australia and New Zea¬ 
land have no native species, but three 
species were introduced into New Zealand 
from England in 1884. 
BUMBLEBEES AND FLOWER POLLINATION. 
As agents in the pollination of flowers 
bumblebees are second in importance only 
to honeybees. Many flowers are adapted 
wholly to their visits and are called bum¬ 
blebee flowers, as the larkspurs, aconites, 
columbines, red clover, jewelweed, turtle- 
head, Linaria, snapdragon, the closed and 
fringed gentians, besides a number of 
orchids, While they generally avoid very 
small flowers with a scanty supply of nec¬ 
tar, they resort to a great variety of blos¬ 
soms, many of which yield valuable fruits 
Altho seldom seen on the inflorescence of 
the pear, they seek the apple bloom in 
large numbers. They are likewise very 
helpful in pollinating many blueberries, 
cranberries, gooseberries, and currants. 
While leaf-cutting bees ( Megachile ) are 
the chief pollinators of alfalfa, many flow¬ 
ers are tripped by bumblebees. The flow¬ 
ers of the squash, cucumber, and pumpkin 
are also very attractive to them. As in 
these plants the stamens and pistils are in 
separate blossoms, their productiveness is 
largely dependent upon bees. 
But their numbers, wide distribution, 
and industry enable the bumblebees to 
perform a service of the greatest value in 
the pollination of red clover, one of the 
most important of fodder plants. As there 
were no native bumblebees in New Zealand 
red clover seed could not be profitably 
raised for market until after the introduc¬ 
tion of European species. They now an¬ 
nually benefit these islands to the extent of 
thousands of dollars. In one province 
alone, in 1912, 6610 acres were sown with 
red clover, which, it is estimated, yielded 
an average of 158 pounds to the acre. 
Fields which were almost barren in the 
absence of bumblebees produced a perfect 
mass of seed after 
their advent. At 
Canterbury 26 acres 
of red clover were 
the resort of thou¬ 
sands of bumblebees 
and yielded 100 to 
500 pounds of seed 
to the acre. The Bu¬ 
reau of Plant Indus¬ 
try reports that from 
757 heads of red 
clover, covered with 
tarlatan to exclude 
insects, an average 
of only one-tenth of 
a seed per head was obtained; while from 
311 heads visited by bumblebees there was 
an average of 30 seeds per head. Bumble¬ 
bees visit as many as 30 to 35 flowers a 
minute. They are less abundant in the 
great central plain of the United States 
Fig. 1.—Two views of honey-pot of Bombus lapidarius. (After Sladen.) 
