Its my understanding that like our honeybees, bumblebees while
extremely easygoing in the field, are very aggressive in defending
their hive.  A friend had a hive settle in his beeyard in some empty
hive bodies he had behind his shed, and the first time he went back
there to get some equipment, they sent him flying out of there in no
uncertain terms. He had to poison them to reclaim his equipment.

In a program on bumblebees on one of the nature channels a year or
two ago, one of the things I learned was that most bumblebees are
fertile, although only the mother queen is mated.  This would explain
why they can sting multiple times.

Vivian


>  > They appeared to be the yellow and black bumblebee that I have
>>  observed on wildflowers and vitex plants lazily gathering nectar and
>>  sometimes even snoozing on the flowers. I have even touched them
>  > lightly without them taking any notice.