1921.] 



83 



10 (9) Abtlomen wliolly black-liaired, the apical segments at most some- 

 what less deeply black than the biisal. . . .var. ^ (sicbterraneu.sK.). 



22- 



1 (2) Thorax entirely yi llow-hairt-d above except for the middle of the 



disc, the basal abdciuiiial se<:-meiit conspicuously so clothed for 



the most jiart, the lut'.-^opieura entirely yellow 



.... ^ar. a (Scotland). 

 '2 (1) Th'n-ax with a con-picuous black median band, or yellow only iu 



fi-(int or entirely black. 

 3- (()) Thorax with a disiinct yellow band in front and sometimes a second 



(in the post 'rior (scutcllar) ]),irt. 



4 (o) The .-cutelluui con-;|)icuously pale-haired or yellow 



. . . .var. l3. 



5 (4) The scutellar region black or at least with the band very obscure, 



the pale hairs becoininf>- scjrdid or much mixed with black 



. . . .var. y. 

 (J {',]) Thorax and abdomen entirely blade, except that there may be a 

 faint indication of a baud on the foruier, or a few pale ov yellowish 

 hiirs at the extreme sides of the fourth segment of the latter 



var. 8. 



The variet}^ <t of both d" and $ was taken by Mr. K. J. Morton 

 at L. Sween in August and I have seen no other specimens. The species, 

 he tells me, was not common, but all the examples were of this variety. 

 The most highly-coloured d I have seen in the South is the var. /3, of 

 infrequent occurrence, but probably widely distributed, as I have taken 

 single examples in N. Wilts and in Devon, and the specimen mentioned 

 in Sladen's book as being in the collection of Edward Saunders from 

 Chobham is presumably the same. Superficially it resembles a variety 

 of Bonihiis latreiUeJlus S ■ 



The var. 2 {leeanus K.) I have not noticed in Devon, though 

 intermediates between this and var. y are frecjuent, but I have a very 

 fine typical specimen taken years ago in Suffolk, the county in which 

 Kirby collected it, but only once ("■ semel caj)ta''''). 



The black males are widely distributed in the South and not rare, 

 and are the suhterraneus of Kirby, who considered his 6 to be the other 

 sex of a Bomhus thus named by Linnaeus. Black females are much rarer, 

 and I have only once or twice seen a living specimen. Smith records five 

 or six of these all from Surrey and Kent in about forty years' collecting. 



P. distinctns Perez. 



The variation in this species is much less than in the preceding. 

 The division of the white tail from the basal black of the abdomen by 

 yellow hairs is often wanting, these yellow hairs being entirely absent 



