304 AMERICAN HYMENOPTKRA. 



Thorax. — Black band between the bases of the wings rather indefi- 

 nite ; pleura, except a little just below and in front of the bases of the 

 wings, black ; scutellum well covered with pale yellow pile. 



Abdofnen. — Coloration like that of abdomen of queen. 



Legs. — Coxffi, trochanters, femora, and tibiae black. Hind tibiae and 

 metatarsi fringed behind with long hairs. 



Dimensions. — Length: queen, 26 mm. ; worker, 18 mm. ; male, 21 

 mm. Spread of wings of queen, 43 mm. 



Redescribed from two queens, one worker and one male. 



Habitat. — Greenland and Arctic Canada. I have records of 

 its capture at Godhaven and Disco in Greenland. The type 

 specimens were taken in Boothia Felix (Arctic Canada). It 

 seems not improbable that this is the same species which is 

 present in the northern regions of Europe and Asia and is 

 known as B. hyperboreus Schonherr. F. Morawitz, however, 

 in describing what he took to be this European and Asiatic 

 species described the queen as having the malar space about 

 as long as its breadth at the apex. 



I have seen a Schmitt box full of specimens of this species 

 in the collection of the American Entomological Society. 

 Unfortunately, when examining the types in that collection, I 

 did not have the time to examine these specimens carefully 

 and note their places of capture. It was at once evident to 

 me, however, that this species is quite a variable one in its 

 coloration, particularly on the abdomen, which often has a 

 very strong admixture of pale yellow pile on its apical two- 

 thirds. 



THE PRATORUM GROUP. 



" The group of B. pratorum L.," Radoszkowski, Bull. Soc. 

 Natural. Moscou, XLIX, P. I, 1884, p. 59. 



Type. — Bombus pratorum Linnaeus . 



Characters of the Group. 

 Females. — Pile medium to long, of variable texture ; head 

 somewhat variable, but in most species distinctly triangular 

 in outline ; malar space usually of fully average length ; man- 

 dibles distinctly three-toothed and usually with a more of less 

 distinct straightening or incurving of the lower apical mar- 

 gin, suggestive of a fourth. 



