Subject: Bumble vs. Honey

From: [email-masked] (Matt Brockman)
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 1994 01:23:05 GMT

Can someone tell me (e-mail preferred) the difference
between a Bumble Bee and a normal Honey bee and
any other major types of bees?

Thanks,

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Matt Brockman                                           [email-masked]
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    "While a llama may produce some of the world's finest of wools, prized
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From: [email-masked] (william b morris)
Date: 18 Apr 1994 12:25:35 GMT

Matt Brockman ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Can someone tell me (e-mail preferred) the difference
: between a Bumble Bee and a normal Honey bee and
: any other major types of bees?

: Thanks,

  This would also be welcome information to me. Please post this info or 
email it to me.

Thanks,

Bill

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William B. Morris (The Biker Poet)  | William B. Morris                  
Computing Center                    | P. O. Box 5163                         
Box 7109                            | Raleigh,N.C. 27650-5163
North Carolina State University     | 
Raleigh,N.C. 27695-7109             |
[email-masked]                  |
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From: [email-masked] (Rudi van Houten)
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 13:36:28 GMT

>any other major types of bees?

Most eye-catching difference (as I see it). Bumble bee colonies live only
one year (season in fact), they don't pass the winter, and therefore they
don't build a big store of food. It is that big store of food of the honey
bee that makes it of value for humans.
Bumble bees also have an economical value for humanity, but it is not so
evident. Since bumble bees visit flowers much earlier in the year then
honeybees the bumble bee is important for early crop. (I think that a long
practice of "slaughtering" the heaviest hives at the end of the year has
made the lazy honey bees the fittest in the struggle for life).

--
Rudi van Houten	  Academisch Computer Centrum Utrecht / Besturings Systemen
Budapestlaan 8  -  3584 CD  -  Utrecht  -  Netherlands
:-) Fantasy is given mankind as retribution for what he is not,
    and a sense of humour to console him for what he is.

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From: [email-masked] (Robert C. Persons)
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 20:47:11 GMT

In article <acbhour.766676188@speelman>, [email-masked] (Rudi van Houten) writes:
|> In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Matt Brockman) writes:
|> 
|> >Can someone tell me (e-mail preferred) the difference
|> >between a Bumble Bee and a normal Honey bee and
|> >any other major types of bees?
|> 
|> Most eye-catching difference (as I see it). Bumble bee colonies live only
|> one year (season in fact), they don't pass the winter, and therefore they
|> don't build a big store of food. It is that big store of food of the honey
|> bee that makes it of value for humans.
|> Bumble bees also have an economical value for humanity, but it is not so
|> evident. Since bumble bees visit flowers much earlier in the year then
|> honeybees the bumble bee is important for early crop. (I think that a long
|> practice of "slaughtering" the heaviest hives at the end of the year has
|> made the lazy honey bees the fittest in the struggle for life).
|> 
|> --
|> Rudi van Houten	  Academisch Computer Centrum Utrecht / Besturings Systemen
|> Budapestlaan 8  -  3584 CD  -  Utrecht  -  Netherlands
|> :-) Fantasy is given mankind as retribution for what he is not,
|>     and a sense of humour to console him for what he is.

I started following this for a friend of mine who does bees, but of course, I
to put in my two cents.  I have a second degree in Zoology, so I have an 
interest also.

One thing that I seem to remember is that there are varieties of Bumble Bees
which are also solitary.  The brood their young in underground chambers not
as a colony but singularly.  I will have to ask an old professor who was into
Entomology, but I think this isolates them, taxonomically, quite a bit from
honey bees.  I have been away from that side of my schooling for 10 years now
so I might have lost track of the facts.  Maybe there is someone out there
that could confirm or deny my memory.

Rob Persons
-- 
 =========>           My views, not Motorola's               <=============
  Rob Persons                    Voice: (407)823-7008  FAX: (407)823-7010
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From: [email-masked] (Fredrik Wilhelmsen)
Date: 19 Apr 1994 18:57:24 GMT

: |> >Can someone tell me (e-mail preferred) the difference
: |> >between a Bumble Bee and a normal Honey bee and
: |> >any other major types of bees?
: |> 
I read somewhere (sorry, don't remeber where or when) that 
Bumble Bees are more stupid than Honey bees.  And this stupidity makes
them more useful in a greenhouse.  A hive of honey bees will find
a way out of an open window if there easier food to be found outside
the greenhouse.  The bumble bees will buzz happily around inside,
fulfilling their important mission.

-Fredrik

PS: A honey bee is supposed to have 800.000 neurons (New Scientist,
feb, 26., 1994, page 17. I had the ref on that one :-).  Half of the
neurones are believed to be (no pun) devotet to sight.  How smart can
they be. (still no pun intended).