vill BOMBOS RUDERATUS 173 
Section I]1.—VFocket-makers. 
SUB-SECTION I.—/ollen-primers. 
9. BOMBUS RUDERATUS, Fabricius. 
Large Garden Humble-bee. 
Synonyms :—subterraneus (Linn.), according to Smith ; 
harrisellus, Kirby. 
Closely allied to B. hortorum. 
QUEEN.—Large ; larger than hortorum ; length 21-23 
mm., expanse 40-43 mm. 
The lightest examples are coloured very like hortorum, 
namely, with two yellow bands on the thorax, the base of 
the abdomen yellow, and the tail white; but the yellow 
bands are of a slightly deeper and duller tint than in 
hortorum, and the yellow band at the back of the thorax is 
approximately of the same width in the middle as the yellow 
band on the front of the thorax. The yellow on the Ist 
segment of the abdomen is more or less interrupted in 
the middle by black, and does not spread on to the 2nd 
segment ; the edge of the 3rd segment is white at the 
sides only, and the 5th segment has often a few black 
hairs about the middle. 
In darker specimens the abdomen has little or no 
trace of yellow on the Ist segment, and the white of the 
tail is often dingy. This variety closely resembles 
B. latreillellus, the description of which see. 
Still darker specimens have the yellow bands on the 
thorax narrow and dusky, and the white of the tail 
brownish and displaced by black on the middle or whole 
of the 5th segment. 
In the next stage of darkening almost all trace of the 
yellow thoracic bands has disappeared, except sometimes 
a pale round spot a little to the front of each wing, and 
the abdomen is black with the 4th segment brown. 
