184 THE HUMBLE-BEE vill 
sometimes so few that it is necessary to use a lens to see 
them. 
In dark specimens the pale band separating the black 
bands on the 2nd and 3rd segments is faint and broken, 
and there are traces of black bands on the 4th and 5th 
segments. 
Coat short ; hairs on the legs short. 
Antenne long; length of flagellum 6 mm. 
Armature very like that of B. déstinguendus. 
A dark male from Hayling Island in the Saunders’ collection is 
black with the exception of a pale yellow band on the front of the 
thorax, an indistinct one on the back of the thorax, whitish fringes 
on the edges of the 4th and 5th segments, and faint whitish fringes 
on the edges of the 2nd and 3rd segments. 
In most years, B. latrezllel/us is abundant in the 
Deal and Dover district; it is also common in 
Suffolk and in many localities in the south and east 
of England. In the north of England it appears to 
be scarce, and I can find no evidence that it has 
been taken either in Scotland or in Ireland. 
The queens, like those of /apzdarzus, appear late, 
and in the Dover district may be seen searching for 
nests at the end of May and early in June. 
The queen often rears a very large brood. Two 
nests that I examined in the stage just before the 
first workers emerged had a number of additional 
cocoons fastened to the rear of the main cluster. In 
one of these nests, shown in Fig. 27, the additional 
cocoons numbered nine, and those in the main 
cluster sixteen, making twenty-five in all, many 
more than the queen could spread her body over. 
The main cluster was easily distinguished by the 
groove in its centre, and by the darker appearance 
