February 1S94/ 



PSYCHE. 



21 



obtain pollen and almost immediately 

 selects a place in which to nidificate, 

 forming its nest of dry grass or leaves 

 in some hollow in the open field ; or 

 more frequently appropriating the de- 

 serted nests of field mice, either in the 

 open field or under old stumps or boards. 

 Here the female constructs her recepta- 

 cles of a waxy or plastic material, into 

 which she deposits her gatherings of 

 pollen and honey — the food-supply for 

 the future oflspring of her colony, lay- 

 ing her eggs directly in or upon the 

 pollen. 



The eggs first laid produce larvae, 

 which spin tough cocoons wherein to 

 undergo their transformations and all 

 transform into neuters or workers, 

 which subsequentlv form the greater 

 part of the community and become of 

 the greatest importance in assisting and 

 performing the necessary economics of 

 the now rapidly increasing family. 

 These are followed later, according to 

 Shuckard, bv males and other produc- 

 tive females which are, however, smaller 

 than the normal sized individuals ; the 

 normal sized males and females not ap- 

 pearing again until the fall, when they 

 mate and the cycle of their life history 

 is completed, the impregnated females 

 of this last brood wandering oft' and 

 hibernating and forming the nuclei of 

 colonies the following spring. 



The number of individuals in a nest 

 is variable ; from a dozen or more 

 to over two hundred individuals have 

 been found in a single nest. Mr. Put- 

 nam states that a nest of B. ternarius 

 contained sixty-five cells, also a number 

 of bunches of pollen in which there 



were no eggs, thirty-five contained 

 young and thirty were filled with honey, 

 having their tops covered with wax and 

 that this was the only instance of his 

 finding tJie Jionfy cells closed over. 



Dr. A. S. Packard in "The lunnble- 

 beesof New England and their parasites, 

 etc." (Proc. Essex inst.. vol. 4, pp. 

 107-140) has given some interesting 

 and valuable observations on the species 

 found in New England, and consider- 

 able new information concerning their 

 parasites. 



Mr. Charles Robertson in "Notes on 

 Bombus" (Ent. news, vol. i (1S90), 

 p. 39) and Mr. Frederick Y . Coville in 

 "Notes on bumble-bees (Proc. ent. soc. 

 Wash., vol. I (1S90), p. 197) from 

 personal observations carried on inde- 

 pendently, both reached the conclusion 

 that ApatJms clatiis, a supposed in- 

 cjuiline of Bombiis fervidus, was in 

 reality the $ of Boinbus american- 

 oruni Fabr. or B. borealis Kirby, a 

 species that was long confounded with 

 B. fervidiis. 



Mr. Robertson further remarks that 

 Walsh in discussing the effect of mim- 

 icry (Proc. ent. soc. Pliil., vol. 3, p. 

 247) mentions having once found B. 

 fervidits $ , surmounted by ApatJnts 

 elattis $ , and cited this as a case in 

 which a Rombus mistook an Apathus 

 for one of its own species, but remarks 

 "that the mistake here was on the part 

 of the entomologist and not on the Bom- 

 bus, as he had no doubt taken the true 

 sexes oi B .fervidus." 



In some particulars, Mr. Coville's 

 observations on Bombus borealis as in- 

 dicating a slight divergence in habits 



