THE HUMBLE BUMBLE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 77, 13 December 1940, Page 19

THE HUMBLE BUMBLE

Sir,-I was interested in the remarks of "Irideus" concerning bees in his fish story in The Listener of November 15. Part of my interest was due to the fact that "Irideus" was wrong in most respects. In the first place, the humble bees he talks about are not humble bees, either in name or fact. They are bumble bees, and anyone who says otherwise, doesn’t know what he is talking about. Further, it is not the bumble bee which can sting only once, but the common worker bee. The latter appears to becomes unfit for further service once it has pressed home an attack, but the bumble bee, like a Vickers Wellington, can sting and keep right on stinging if need be. The bumble bee generally minds its own business, pursuing a policy of live and let live, but it can be anything but humble if antagonised. I once saw a young and foolish cat attempt to bite a bumble bee, mistaking it for its favourite tit-bit, a juicy blowfly. The cat raced around the yard in increasing circles, foaming at the mouth. The bumble bee flew serenely away. However, I will admit that I once put one over a bumble hee. Working in the garden one fine summer’s noon, I stopped to ease my aching back for a moment. Noting a bumble bee doing the rounds of a snap-dragon plant (or antirrhinum, alias "bunny"-please yourself), I idly picked up one of those furry little black caterpillars and popped him inside a snap-dragon flower. Presently, the bumble bee landed on the flower, and in his business-like way, poked his head %nside. Then he went hard astern with a loud panicky buzz, and took off in great haste, sounding as he disappeared over the hedge exactly like "The Flight of the

Bumble Bee."

PADDLE-STEAMER

(Auckland).