COLORATION IN POLISTES. 8l 



the third and fourth bordered with greenish yellow, on each edge an irregular 

 red marginal mark ; terminal segment reddish. Legs varied with red and yellow. 

 Hab. — United States, Mexico. 



P. fuscatus exilis Sauss. 



Male. — Head and thorax black ; face whitish yellow ; posterior orbits and the 

 space between the eyes of the same color ; mandibles sulphur yellow, with a black 

 dot at their base ; antennae black, ferruginous beneath, except at the end ; the 

 two edges of the prothorax bordered with sulphur yellow or ferruginous ; anterior 

 border of the postscutellum and two lines on the metathorax sulphur yellow, as 

 well as the articular valves. Abdomen black, all the segments bordered with sul- 

 phur yellow, the second bearing on each side a round point of red, and the first, 

 often two, yellow points in front of the angles of the border of this segment ; end 

 of the abdomen often ferruginous. Legs ferruginous, under or posterior side of 

 the femora black ; posterior legs a little brown ; front of the coxae yellow, which 

 color prolongs itself onto the front of the thoracic segments placed above the coxae. 

 Wings transparent, washed with yellow. Length 13 mm. 



Var. A. — Prothorax and metathorax black ; the first segment of the abdomen 

 bordered with yellow. 



Hab. — North America. 



P. pallipes Lepel. 



Female. — Head black, with the mandibles, the convex clypeus, except the edge, 

 a broad stripe behind the eyes, the sinus of the eyes with a line extending to the 

 clypeus, ferruginous ; antennae black above, ferruginous beneath. Thorax black ; 

 posterior edge of the prothorax and the tegulae ferruginous. Abdomen black, the 

 first segment with a pale yellow terminal border ; all the coxae, the greater part of 

 the femora, and the outer side of the tibiae black, the rest of the legs ferruginous or 

 dull yellow. Wings smoky brown ; some specimens have a small spot under the 

 base of the fore wdngs, two points sometimes extended into a line on the front of 

 the scutellum, a similar line on the postscutellum, and sometimes a longitudinal 

 stripe on each side of the median dorsal furrow of the metathorax yellow ; occa- 

 sionally specimens are found in which all the abdominal segments above and 

 beneath have a narrow terminal border ; the clypeus is sometimes black and the 

 markings yellow instead of ferruginous ; a few specimens have a ferruginous spot 

 on each side of the second abdominal segment, and occasionally traces may be 

 found on some of the other segments. Length 21 mm. 



Male. — Differs from the female in having the clypeus very flat, all the face, the 

 breast and the coxae beneath, yellow ; the front of the femora reddish yellow ; the 

 underside of the antennae yellow or reddish yellow. Length 20 mm. 



Worker. — Similar to the female, but somewhat smaller. Length 18 mm. 



M. de Saussure has given the following descriptions of varieties : 



Var. Worker. — Two yellow lines on the metathorax. 



Var. A. — Border of the tegulae indistinct, first segment of the antennae red ; 

 postscutellum ornamented with two yellow points. 



Var. B. — Abdomen black, border of the second segment unmarked, the lateral 

 spots red. 



Var. C. — Prothorax, clypeus, and border of the third segment of the abdomen red. 



Var. D. — The mark under the wings, two points on the scutellum yellow; meta- 

 thorax with two yellow lines. 



Var. E. — Marks of the abdomen large, melting with the borders, which are red. 



Var. F. — All the segments of the abdomen bearing a red mark on each edge. 

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