1890.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 41 



conclusion that they were distinct, and that the nest belonged to 

 B. americanorum. On September gth I saw the sexes of this 

 species in copula. The same night 'I opened two nests, one con- 

 taining 10 females, 46 workers and 10 males, and the other con- 

 taining 9 females, 51 workers and i male. 



The female of B. americanorum has the vertex always black; 

 the scutellum black, or with a little yellow; the first segment of 

 the abdomen yellow; seen from above, the base of the lab rum 

 shows two tubercles separated by a wide interval. 



The males of B. americanorum and of B. fervid us may prove 

 to be very much alike. Indeed the $ of B. americanorum re- 

 semi >k-s the 9 of B. fervidus more than its own female; but I 

 think B. americanorum is more nearly related to B. fervidus than 

 it is to B. pennsylvanicus. B. fervidus is very rare in my neigh- 

 borhood, as I have seen but two female specimens. In Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. Ill, 247, Walsh mentions finding B. fervidus 9 sur- 

 mounted by Af>athus elatus $ . He was discussing the effect of 

 mimicry, and he cites this as a case in which a Bombus mistook 

 an Apathus for one of its own species. But the mistake was 

 probably on the part of the entomologist; he had, no doubt, 

 taken the true sexes of B. fervidus. 



Notes and. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM ALL QUARTERS 

 OF THE GLOBE. 



[The Conductors of ENTOMOLOGICAL \i.\vs solicit, and will thankfully receive items 

 of ni-ws, likely to interest its readers, from any source. The author's name will be given 

 in each case tor the information of cataloguers and bibliographers.] 



O 



SCIKNTII -ic Ui SI.ARCH IN Mnxico. An important scientific explora- 

 tion is to be made of the less known portions of Yucatan and Mexico, re- 

 gions which have not hitherto been systematically explored by naturalists, 

 except in so far as arch;eoloi;y is concerned It is the object of the expe- 

 dition to ascertain, as a continuation of former explorations in Florida, the 

 general structure of tin- basin of the C.ulf of Mexico, conceniin.y; which 

 there is much dixersity of opinion anioii^ scientists. 



Tin- exploration will comprise, besides the ideological examination of 

 t!u- region, a < lose examination of its /oology and botany, towards which 

 end specialists in various departments of science uill accompany the expe- 

 dition. The party will be under the leadership of I'n.l. An-elo Heilprin, 



