194 THE HUMBLE-BEE vill 
Antenne with each joint of the flagellum much swollen 
in the middle behind. Length of flagellum 54 mm. 
Armature distinct. 
This species is very common throughout the 
United Kingdom, but there is no record of it from 
Orkney or Shetland. Its nest is on the surface of 
the ground, often in grass or under ivy, and, like 
pratorum, it prefers to dwell in woods rather than 
in open country. I have found nests in the thatch 
of a cow-lodge, in a tuft of pampas grass, in the 
grubbed-up stump of a tree, in a robin’s nest, in an 
old shoe, and in a decayed and broken kettle, but 
never under the ground. 
In most specimens from the Dover district the 
thorax is more or less blackened. The remarkable 
arrangement of colour in which the whole upper 
side is tawny except the 1st segment and base of 
the 2nd segment (which are pale yellow), with black 
at the sides of each of the segments except the 6th, 
approaches that of the Norwegian variety avctzcus, 
and has appeared in several workers found in a 
nest at Ripple. 
In the south of France the whole upper side 
is orange (var. fascuorum), while in Zealand it is 
perfectly black (var. mxzorum). 
