30 G . Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 
Queen, Regular Form. — Head black with a patch of pale yellow on middle 
of face between and below bases of antennae and a smaller, fainter one above 
antennae, vertex yellow. Thorax with a wide pale yellow band in front and a 
narrower one behind separated by a black band, pleura pale yellow to base of 
legs. Abdomen: segment 1 pale yellow, segments 2 and 3 red, segments 4, 5 
and 6 pale yellow with more or less black in the middle of the segments. Length, 
20 mm. 
Queen, Melanic Variety johanseni, n. var. — Head black, face black, 
a few dingy pale yellow hairs on vertex. Thorax with a band of dingy 
pale yellow in front, more or less narrowed by encroachment of the black, but 
black hairs are not mixed in with the yellow to any great extent; a broad black 
band between the wings and a narrow pale yellow band on the posterior part of 
the thorax, this band interrupted in the middle by an extension of the black 
from the interaler band; pleura black, in some specimens faintly tinged with 
yellow. Abdomen with the first segment pale yellow interrupted in the middle 
with decumbent dark hair which is scanty; segments 2 and 3 red; segments 
4, 5 and 6 black with more or less pale yellow hair on sides of segment 4. Hair 
on legs and underside black, corbicular fringes tinged with red in the type and 
in several specimens. Length, 18 to 20 mm. 
Worker, Regular Form. — Coloured hke the queen. 
Worker, Melanic Variety johanseni. — Coloured hke the queen of this 
variety. 
Six males from Nome, Alaska, August 24-25, 1916 (F. Johansen); six males 
from Teller, Alaska, July 26, and five on July 29, 1913 (F. Johansen); nine 
males from Herschel island, Yukon Territory, end of July, 1916 (F. Johansen); 
six males from Bernard harbour, Northwest Territories, July 30 to August 7, 
1915 (F. Johansen); one August 8, two August 10, two August 14, 1915, all 
from Bernard harbour (F. Johansen). 
One queen of the regular form from Barter island, Alaska, July 4, 1914 
(D. Jenness); one, abdomen missing, from west of Collinson point, Alaska, 
June 11, 1914 (E. de K. Leffingwell). 
Twenty-nine queens of the melanic variety johanseni, all taken by Mr. F. 
Johansen, as follows: One from Bernard harbour. Northwest Territories, July 3 
(type), two July 4, one July 6, two July 7, one July 11, one July 12, one July 19, 
nine July 30 to August 7, one August 8, two August 10, one August 14, all from 
Bernard harbour in 1915; one Chantry island (Bernard harbour), June 17, one 
Bernard harbour July 9, and three Bernard harbour July 14, 1916. One queen 
from Port Epworth, Coronation gulf, taken by Mr. J. J. O'Neill on July 15, 
1915, in bad condition, appears to agree with the description oi johanseni. One 
queen from Herschel island, Yukon Territory, end of July, 1916 (F. Johansen), 
has the yellow bands on the thorax as wide as the black band and has a narrow 
pale yellow band on the apices of segments 2 and 3. 
The melanic variety jo/iansem approaches melanopygus Nyl., which, accord- 
ing to Franklin, can be readily separated from sylvicola by the difference in the 
coloration of the head and fore part of the thorax, which is of "thoroughly 
mixed black and yellow hairs." However, in specimens of melanopygus from 
British Columbia the black hairs stand out conspicuously among the yellow on 
the fore part of the thorax. 
B. sylvicola is probably the same species as lapponicus Fab. found in 
Northern Europe and the mountains of Britain. The coloration of both species 
is the same and the spreading of the red to the fourth segment as noted in five 
of the Bernard harbour males occurs in varieties of lapponicus found in Scotland 
and the Pyrenees. 
