280 AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA. 



it is quite a common species, though less so than several 

 others. It ranges southward through the Middle Atlantic 

 States into South Carolina and Georgia, where it again ap- 

 pears to be rare, and westward certainly as far as Ramsey 

 County, Minnesota, and probably somewhat farther. I know 

 nothing of its southward range in the Central States, though, 

 as I have seen specimens from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it 

 seems not unlikely that it may be found as far south as Ken- 

 tucky. It apparently reaches its greatest abundance in the 

 central portion of the Middle Atlantic States. It is mainly 

 confined to the Transition and Upper Austral Zones, with no 

 report of capture west of the Mississippi river. Redescribed 

 from sixteen queens, fourteen workers and sixteen males. 

 One of the workers was a specimen (homotype) previously 

 compared by me with the type. 



Nests. — I have seen but one nest of this species. I found 

 it in early July in southern Vermont, in an open mowing on 

 the surface of the ground. It was made up, in the usual way 

 for surface nests, of dried grass and stubble woven together 

 and, as the queen had apparently but recently started it, it 

 contained only a few cells with partially developed larvae in 

 them. The nest was left as it was found so that the queen 

 might develop her colony, but unfortunately it was accident- 

 ally destroyed a few days later. 



Although this was a surface nest, the fact that the queens 

 of this species are never seen in abundance, while the workers 

 and males in late summer often appear in large numbers, 

 together with the fact that their nests are so seldom found, 

 leads me to the opinion that they are usually subterranean. 



This species is very constant in its character, a remarkable 

 fact when the extreme variability of a large proportion of 

 the species of the Terrestris group is considered. 



The indications that the queen, which I have here asso- 

 ciated with the afiinis worker and male of Cresson, properly 

 belongs with them are so strong that it can hardly be doubted. 

 Mr. J. C. Bridwell, who has done considerable work on the 

 Bombidae, first suggested the relationship to me. While I 

 disagreed with him at first, I have been forced to the conclu- 



