HENRY J. FRANKLIN. 273 



part of Wyoming and a considerable part of New Mexico. 

 It is probably also present in parts of the eastern portion of 

 Arizona. Mr. Swenk has recorded the capture of a single 

 female specimen in Sioux County, Nebraska. It should be 

 noted that I have no Canadian records for it distinctly east 

 of the eastern limits of the Rocky Mountains, though it seems 

 not improbable that it may range considerably further east. 

 What is its southern limit ? My New Mexico records are : 

 San Ignacio, Harvey's Ranch, Las Vegas Range, Beulah, 

 Sante Fe Canon and Costilla Range. The type locality of 

 the modestus Smith worker is Oajaca, Mexico, but it seems 

 very probable that this was a mistake. What are its extreme 

 northern limits ? It would be interesting to know if it is 

 present on the Aleutian Islands and in Asia. It is pretty 

 strictly confined to the Boreal Region and the Transition 

 Zone and seems to be a fairly common species throughout a 

 good portion of its range. 



There is a single male before me, which is apparently an 

 abnormal color variation either of this species or of B. terri- 

 cola, from the Black Hills of South Dakota. What is the 

 eastern limit of this species in the northern United States? 



The species occidentalis is most closely related to B. terres- 

 tris moderatus Cress, on one side and to B. terricola Kirby 

 on the other. It will be noted that B. terrestris moderatus 

 has the second dorsal abdominal segment entirely covered 

 with yellow pile while the third segment is always entirely 

 dark ; also the face and scutellum in that species are always 

 entirely dark. B. occidentalis, on the other hand, never has 

 anything more than mere touches of yellow pile on the second 

 dorsal segment unless the third segment is entirely covered 

 above with yellow pile ; further, this species usually has 

 more or less yellow pile on the face, especially on the queens 

 and males and the scutellum is very often with a consider- 

 able amount of yellow pile. I have not seen any gradations 

 tending to close the gap between these two species to any 

 extent. For these reasons I cannot agree with Herr Hand- 

 lirsch in considering them as varieties or subspecies of the 

 same species. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXX VIII. (35) 



