HUMBLE-BEE, a name applied by phonetic instinct under various inflexions (such as “Bumble-bee” in England provincially, and “Hummel” in Germany) to the large bees of the genus Bombus (which, like the French “Bourdon,” is probably also suggested by the noise made by these insects). They belong to the social section of the great family Apidoe, of which the common hive-bee is the type, and, like that well-known insect, live in colonies composed of the two sexes and neuters. Instead of a single female (or queen), however, many are found in one nest; and the workers do not hibernate. The female also differs from the queen hive-bee in having dense fringes of hairs on the pollen-plates of the hind legs, and a widened base to the hind tarsi, a structure necessitated by her having to work single-handed at the commencement of the season, as the workers and males do not survive the winter. Early in the spring these large hibernated females may be observed on the wing, each becoming the founder of a fresh colony, in which the neuters are first produced. There are two kinds of females, the smaller one only producing male eggs, but not surviving the winter. The number of individuals in a colony varies with the different species, and as a rule is least in those building their nest above ground. In one very common subterranean species, Bombus terrestris, as many as 107 males, 56 females, and 180 workers have been found in one nest. There is considerable difference between the males, females, and neuters; the last two differ, however, but little except in size, whereas the males often exhibit a very varying coloration, and have structural peculiarities, such as an additional segment to the abdomen, longer antennae and tongue, no pollen-basket, &c. They have also no sting, ...