WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 58, 9 March 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

THE BUMBLE BEES.

VAXTJE TO NEW ZEAI#ATTD,

'i, (By A. T. PYCROFT.)

A friend states that when he was investigating a bumble bee's nest in the ground he was severely etung by two of these bees. My friend was barefooted at the time, and one of these bees stung him on a big toe and another on a thumb. The sting was much more severe than that of the ordinary bee —apis, but my correspondent does not state if the bumble bee's eting remained in the skin, as is invariably the case when the honey bee stings. Possibly the bumble bee has sufficient power to withdraw the sting from the flesh, whereas the honey bee has not. I am asked for information about the bumble or (humble) bee's introduction into New Zealand.

There are five species of these bees naturalised in New Zealand, all beinj; natives of Europe. A great service was done to this country by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, who successfully introduced them in 1885. They were liberated at Eiccarton and at the foot of the Port Hills. A first, but unsuccessful attempt to introduce these insects was made by this society in 1873, with the object of bringing about by their aid the fertilisation of the red clover, which is very extensively cultivated, but which, previous to the advent of these insects, did. not produce seed except to a very limited extent. The cost of those landed was 9/5 each. As soon as the insects began to increase fertilisation of the clover ensued and abundance of seed began to be obtained.

The importance and value of the humble bee to New Zealand has been very considerable. Within nine years of the liberation of 90 queens in Christchurch in 1885 the sum of about £200,000 was realised from red clover seed alone. It is an example of one family of insects beneficial to mankind. This insect i? called bumble bee and humble bee, and both names appear to be correct, bumble being derived from an old English, word "bumblen," to make a humming noise, and humble bee from the old English name Huinbil bee, or humming bee.

Family Life. The bumble or bumble bees belong to tile family Bombidae, Latin borhbus. a humming noise, and are amongst the most familiar insects in temperate climates, but in tropical countries arc generally confined to the mountains. They are absent from almost the whole of Africa, the plains of India, and none belong to Australia or New Zealand. In temperate regions their family life resembles that found in the social wasps much more closely than that which prevails in the hive or honey bees. The societies come to an end in autumn, and a certain mimber of the females hibernate, to reappear in spring, when they form new colonies. The most abundant caste is that of the workers, but they are not clearly distinguishable from the queens or females except by their smaller size.

Soon after fertilisation the females hibernate, and this phase may l>e passed either in the ground or in rubbish, moss, etc. In Britain the period of torpor . lasts about nine months. When astir again, each queen seeks out a situation for her future nest, which ia generally underground, and consists of fine grass or moss formed into a hollow ball. Access to the nest is obtained by means of a. tunnel, which averages about 2ft in length. Having formed her liest.. the next act of the humble bee queen is to collect a mass of pollen, which is formed into a paste. Upon the top of this substance she constructs a circular wall of wax, and in the cell thus formed ehe lays her batch of eggs, capping them over with a covering of wax. She also constructs a wax receptacle, or honey pot, for her own consumption. This store is drawn upon during inclement weather and while the queen is occupied in incubating her eggs. The larvae hatch in about four days, and lie immersed in their food bed of pollen. The queen further supplies them with regurgitated pollen and, nectar, which are passed to the brood through a hole which ehe forms in the upper part of the cell. About the tenth day the larvae spin tough pale yellow cocoons, and on the twenty-second or twenty-third day after the eggs are deposited the first adults appear, and are always workers. How the Colonies Grow.

Xew cells are added to the nest as the season advances, ami each cell contains on an average about a dozen eggs. The workers convert their old cocoons into honey pots, and, in some species, additional waxed vessels are also constructed. When sufficient workers have emerged, the work of pollen collecting devolves upon them, and the queen becomes restricted to the nest. After the queen has deposited about 200 to 400 workers' eggs, according to the species, she lays other eggs, which give rise to males and queens. Those destined to produce queens are laid in larger cells than is the case with workers or male eggs, the worker cells being the smallest of the three types. " The male and queen cells are not provisioned before the eggs are laid in them, and those larvae destined to produce queens do not appear to receive any different diet from those which will give rise to males. During the intermediate period in the life of the colony the females which are produced are smaller than the parent, and are little more than egg-laying workers.

The large sized females, together with the males, do not appeal , until the end of the season. The survivor* among these females form the next year's colonies; the males on the other hand, are short lived, and having onc-o left the nest do not return to it. Humble bees' nesta usually present an irregular appearance. The larvae, a? they develop, increase in size, and their cells become distended. The queen adds more wax, so that the larvae always remain hidden, but much of the wax U removed after the cocoons are formed. The cells are only utilised once for rearing purposes, and fresh cells are added above the old remains. The queens are the onlv members of the whole colony of humble bees consisting of hundredof workers and drones, that are strong enough to stand the cold of winter Thus each humble bee colony lasts o I) !;€-=>.? *-e=™state.