Humble (Bumble)-Bee

3rd April 2024

Photo Credit: fabioski (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a-work, and how ill requited!

Why should our endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed?

What verse for it? What instance for it? Let me see;

Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing,

Till he hath lost his honey and his sting;

And being once subdued in armed tail,

Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.

PANDARUS: Troilus and Cressida, Act 5, Scene 1

HUMBLE (BUMBLE) BEE (e.g. Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee: Bombus terrestris)

Shakespeare brings up the question of Humble (Bumble) Bee honey in the quotation above. This turns out to be a complicated issue. Bumble Bees do make a form of honey but only for a few days, they do not make an excess of honey to store through the winter like the Honey Bees. Shakespeare discusses Humble-Bees in several works including the

There are currently 24 species of Bumble Bees in the UK which includes social insects, solitary insects and ‘cuckoo’ species which take over the nests of others. Two species of UK Bumblebees are already extinct and two more are threatened. The loss of habitats, nectar sources, and chemicals and pollutants are all contributory factors.

More Information

Bumblebee Conservation Trust: Visit Site

Folger Shakespeare: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Urban Bees: Visit Site

Xerces Society: Visit Site