NATURAL GROUPING OF BREMID^E. 40! 



and probably is a non-pocket-making species, has a longer face 

 (cf. Kriiger, '20, pp. 310 and 359) than either of the two species 

 mentioned by Sladen ('12, p. 275). 



Equally impracticable is the term Carder-bees which Sladen 

 ('12, pp. 152-153) applies to the second subdivision of the 

 Pocket-makers. The collecting of nesting material, the character 

 on which Sladen ('12, p. 17) based this group, is more or less 

 common to all species of the genus Bremus, including the non- 

 pocket-making species. However, by the rejection of the term 

 Carder-bees, the writer does not wish to imply that the species 

 which Sladen ('12, p. 152) includes under this term do not con- 

 stitute a distinct group. 



Having pointed out the inadequacy of Sladen's ('12) classifica- 

 tion as applied to some of our North American Bremidae, the 

 writer would suggest the following changes in Sladen's ('12) 

 scheme. The name Marsipcea ' (from Greek marsipos, a pouch, 

 and poiein, to make) is proposed as a substitute lor Sladen's ('12) 

 term pocket-makers. This change would result in a suitable name 

 for Sladen's pollen-slorers (the non-pocket-making species) which 

 could then be designated as the Amarsipcea. For reasons already 

 stated, it is further suggested that the terms Poll en -primers, 

 Long-faced humble-bees, and Carder-bees be droped as subdivisions 

 of the Marsipcea. 



Concerning two species belonging to the Amarsipcea, Sladen 

 ('12, p. 36) says: "The larvae of B. terrestris and lucorum do not 

 keep together in a compact mass, but as they begin to grow large 

 each one acquires its own covering of wax, although they do not 

 separate completely; the cocoons, therefore, do not form definite 

 clusters, and are easily detached from one another." And in the 

 next paragraph he continues: "With most of the species the skin 

 of wax that covers each batch of larvae is to the unaided eye un- 

 broken, but as the larvae grow, B. terrestris, lucorum, and latreil- 

 lellus leave visible holes in the wax, which, when the larvae ap- 

 proach full size, become large. The larvae would now run the 

 risk of falling out of their soft wax covering, \vhich would mean 

 their destruction, for a naked larva is always carried out of the 

 nest; but they avoid this danger by enclosing themselves in a 



6 The writer here wishes to express his thanks to Professors W. G. Aurelio and 

 W. M. Wheeler for their valuable suggestions concerning these terms. 



