196 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [May, '07 



Benton that as there were no zoological canons to interfere, 

 Linnaeus considered that mcllifica (honey-maker) was more 

 appropriate than mcllifcra (honey-bearer.) Now after the 

 lapse of nearly 150 years the older name is very properly re- 

 stored. 



All of the workers of A. mettifera which I have taken in this 

 locality are black or German bees, or are hybrids between this 

 and the Italian variety. The black bee is so called because 

 the entire dorsum of the abdomen is black, while pure Italians 

 have yellow bands on the basal three abdominal segments. By 

 selection bee-culturists have also produced four and five-banded 

 Italians. Hybrids, which can be easily distinguished, are 

 marked with only one or two yellow bands, but hybrids may be 

 entirely black. Wild colonies living in hollow trees in the 

 forest are not uncommon in this locality. 



The writer has two colonies of black bees which are kept 

 largely for purposes of observation. In the spring of 1906 

 they left the hive for their first flight on March 28th, a mild 

 sunny day, with a temperature of 48 F. in the shade. Num- 

 bers of the bees which alighted on the snow became chilled and 

 perished. The preceding month of January was exceptionally 

 warm throughout the Northern States, and at Zanesville, 

 Ohio, in latitude 40, the maximum temperature on the 2ist 

 and 22d was 70 and 71 F. respectively, and the honeybees 

 flew as freely as in the springtime, "carrying great loads of 

 pollen from the maples." They were also flying on six other 

 days in this month. At Waldoboro they still continue to leave 

 the hives on every mild day in November. Providing the tem- 

 perature be sufficiently high, -the honeybee then may fly any day 

 in the year. Strictly speaking, the domestic bee does not hi- 

 bernate, since they consume food throughout the winter, and 

 can endure a temperature below 40 F. for only a few days. 

 (For experiments in chilling bees see Gleanings in Bee Culture, 

 34, 202. Feb. 15. 1906.) 



BOMBIDAE. 

 Bombus terricola Kirby. 



1837, fiombits terricola Kirby ?. Faun. Bor. Am., 4, 2/3. 



1863, Bombus terricola Cr., ? $, <$, Proc. Rnt. Soc. Phil., 2, 99. 



1864, Bombus terricola Packard, 9 , <3, Proc. Essex Inst., 4, 112. 



