320 NOTES ON BUMBLEBEES 



very long and shaggy. The arrangement of the setal punctures 

 about the ocelli also bears out the view of the closer affinity of 

 amhiguus with flavifrons as compared with sitkensis, in fact so 

 closely do the two agree that I consider amhiguus to be but a 

 color variety of flavifrons. 



Studies of representatives of all North American species of the 

 Pratorum Group show that centralis, flavifrons, pleuralis and 

 sitkensis form a small complex of their own within this large, 

 quite generally distributed group. 



Bremus americanorum (Fabricius) 



There has been repeated discussion concerning what species of 

 bumblebee DeGeer described, in 1773, by the name pennsylvan- 

 icus. Franklin came to the conclusion that americanorum, of 

 Fabricius (1775) was synonymous with pennsylvanicus, the 

 latter having priority. The correctness of this interpretation 

 has recently been questioned by Robertson (1920) and ameri- 

 canorum is the name now used by Lutz and Cockerell (1920). 

 A careful study of DeGeer's description and figure, and the 

 arguments pro and con, convinces me that DeGeer described the 

 species we are now calling /ery{rf?/s. The fact that the scutellum 

 is stated by DeGeer to be yellow, and is so illustrated, is an ar- 

 gument in favor of ■pennsylvanicus being synonymous with 

 ferv'idus. Franklin has called attention to this, but adds that 

 such a condition is sometimes found in specimens of auricomus 

 (Robertson) and americanorum. This, however, is the exception 

 and not the rule. The same type of argument on the basis of 

 color characters might be used to refute some of the views ad- 

 vanced by Franklin that the species is not fervidus. In De- 

 Geer's description he stated in one place that the abdomen is 

 entirely yellow above, except at its extremity where the last 

 segments are black. If the yellow pubescence of the abdomen 

 was restricted to but a portion of the first and the entire second 

 and third dorsal abdominal segments, why such a statement as 

 this? Franklin says the figure "represents a female with the 

 black pile running up on the mesoplcura nearly to the level of the 

 bases of the wings," and accordingly the species can not be 

 fervidus. It seems to me that the figure shows the basal seg- 

 ments of the legs drawn up rather closely to the body, and as 



