200 THE HUMBLE-BEE vu 
I have noticed this species to be commonest in damp 
cold seasons. 
In Co. Armagh the Rev. W. F. Johnson found 
the nests in deep moss. 
B. muscorum, variety smithianus, White. 
This is a variety found in the Shetland Islands. It 
is larger than the mainland form: length of the queen 
Ig-20 mm., expanse 34-36 mm., length of the male 15- 
16 mm. The queen and worker have the head (except a 
few hairs on top), the underside of the thorax, the under- 
side of the abdomen, and the legs clothed with black instead 
of pale hairs; also the orange-brown of the upper side of 
the thorax is of a somewhat richer tint than in the main- 
land variety, and it is not bordered with pale hairs; and 
the abdomen is more distinctly lemon-yellow. The male is 
coloured like the queen, except that he generally has a tuft 
of lemon-yellow on the lower part of the face, some yellow 
on the top of the head, and the underside of the abdomen 
partly pale. 
The coat is longer in this variety than in the mainland 
form. 
Specimens with a black underside have also been taken 
in Lewis in the Hebrides. The variety occurs, too, in 
Norway. But specimens from Stromness, Orkney, show 
only traces of black on the face, underside, and legs, 
although the coat is long. 
In the Saunders’ Collection at the British Museum 
there is a specimen from St. Mary’s, Scilly, of the 
South of England variety, having the underside 
black, and the legs partly so. 
The Rev. F. D. Morice found smzthzanus nesting 
in stone walls in Shetland. 
