HUMBLE-BEE, Bombus, a genus of social bees(see BEE), having a thick and very hairy body, the hairs often arranged in colored bands; and also differing from the honeybees in having the tibim of the hinder-legs terminated by two spines. The species are numer ous, and arc found in almost all parts of the world, from the equator to the uisnost polar limits of vegetation, but they seem to abound most of all in temperate climates. About forty are natives of Britain, one of the largest of which, and of British hymenopterous insects, is the common humble-bee (B. terrestris), the bumbee (boom-bee) of the Scotch; black, with a yellow ring before the wings, and another on the abdomen, the apex of the abdomen white. Another of the largest species is the BED-TA H.ED BEE (B. lapideriu s), and one of the most abundant is the yellow and orange MOSS-BEE (B. museorum), the foggie of the Scotch. Some of the tropical species are much larger than any found in Britain. The name humble-bee is supposed to be a modification of hummel or hummer bee, and to refer to the loud hum produced by the wings of these insects.
Humble-bees do not form communities so large as those of honey-bees; seldom more than two or three hundred occupying one nest, and in some species not more than fifty or sixty. The females are much less prolificthan those of honey-bees. The community is dissolved on the approach of winter, the males and workers die, and only females remain in a torpid slate—among moss, in rotten wood, or in some other situation where they may enjoy protection from frost, and concealment from enemies—to perpetuate the race by founding new communities in the ensuing spring. The nests of some
species, as B. terrestris, are in holes in the ground, at the depth of a foot or more, floored with leaves, and lined with wax, and often entered by a winding passage. Others, as B. lapidaries, make their waxen nests among stones; while others still, as B. MUSC0111712, make them among moss. which they mix and join with wax. The nests are enlarged as the community increases. Some of the eggs are deposited in balls of mingled pollen and honey, on which the larvae feed, one ball containing several larvte; afterwards, eggs are also deposited in waxen cells. Workers are chiefly produced in the earlier part of the season, males and perfect females in the latter part of it. The females are larger than the males and workers. Humble-bees differ from honey-bees in their females existing together in the same community without seeking to destroy one -mother There is among them nothing analogous to swarming, Their combs do not exhibit the beautiful regularity of structure which characterizes those of honey-bees; but cells of a comparatively coarse appearance are clustered together, with silken cocoons of pupw, balls of the kind already noticed, and open cells or pots filled with honey, the frequent prize of schoolboys and youthful haymakers, who know well how to open and plunder the humble-bee's nest. Many animals are also expert in this, as badgers, foxes, rats, etc., which, however, devour the brood as well as the honey.