1920] Bequaeri — Hymenoptera Collected near Boston 7 



Type locality : Forest Hills, Mass. ; the holotype, a male taken by 

 Prof. Wm. M. Wheeler, is deposited at the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, Cambridge. The allotype, a worker from the same 

 locality, is in the American Museum of Natural History. Also 

 known from Sherborn, Mass., and Brooklyn, N. Y. 



The extent of ferruginous pile on segments 3 to 6 is variable, the 

 following being the combinations observed : 



1. Ferruginous pile covering the major part of the fourth tergite; 

 the extreme sides of this tergite and the whole of segments 3, 5, 6, 

 and 7 being black: one worker from Forest Hills, August 3, 1911 

 (Wm. M. Wheeler Coll.; allotype); two males from Sherborn, 

 August 30 and September 8, 1913 (E. J. Smith Coll.). 



2. Ferruginous pile covering the whole of tergite 4 and extending 

 over the apical margin of tergite 3: two males from Forest Hills, 

 June, 1911 (holotype of var. novae-angliae) and August 18, 1911 

 (W^m. M. W^heeler Coll.). 



3. Ferruginous pile covering the entire fourth tergite; also the 

 greater part of tergite 5, though with some admixture of black 

 hair; tergite 6 with a few rufous hairs in the black pile at the base 

 in the center: one male taken at Forest Hills, visiting the flowers 

 of Lyihrum Salicaria, August 12, 1919. 



4. Tergites 4, 5, and 6 covered with ferruginous pile, except at 

 the extreme sides and in the middle along the apical margin, where 

 the pile is black: one male from Brooklyn, N. Y., July, 1915 

 (F. M. Schott Coll.). 



5. Ferruginous pile very bright, covering the entire fourth ter- 

 gite, tergite 3 except for a median patch of black hair near the base, 

 and the basal part of tergite 5 : one worker taken in the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum at Forest Hills, collecting pollen of a cultivated variety of 

 Viburnum, August 3, 1919. This very brightly colored specimen 

 mimics to a certain degree Bomhus ternarius Say. 



It is not without some hesitation that I propose a varietal name 

 for this curious color- variant of Bomhus affinis. It has been the 

 great merit of Franklin to elucidate the structural characters of 

 the North American Bombidae; and, while carefully recording the 

 color- variants of each species, this author has wisely refrained from 

 applying names to them. Indeed, it will be a lengthy process for 

 future students to decide which of the many color forms of bumble- 

 bees are mere freak specimens, and which others represents racial 



