308 AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA. 



Z<?^j.— Coxae, trochanters and femora all bearing a considerable 

 amount of yellow pile ; anterior sides of anterior femora and posterior 

 sides of middle and hind femora and apical portions of all the femora 

 mostly with black pile ; fore and middle tibiae for most part black, but 

 often with a few hairs of a distinctly ferruginous tinge on the outer side 

 near the tip ; a large part of the short hair on the fore and middle 

 metatarsi with a distinctly ferruginous tinge. Posterior tibiae with 

 outer faces flat or slightly convex and without any very definitely bare 

 areas ; anterior borders with short fringes and posterior borders with 

 rather long ones, thus forming distinct but weak corbiculae. Poste- 

 rior metatarsi bearing, for most part, only short spines and pubescence 

 but with posterior borders bearing fringes of rather long hairs, these 

 hairs and the posterior fringes of the posterior tibiae usually more or 

 less strongly ferruginous. 



Dimensions. — Length : queens, 15 mm. to 21 mm. ; workers, 8 mm. 

 to 15 mm. ; males, 9. mm. to 15 mm. Spread of fore wings : queens, 

 33 mm. to 42 mm. ; workers, 23 mm. to 33 mm. ; males, 24 mm. to 32 

 mm. Width of abdomen at second segment : queens, 9 mm. to 11 

 mm. ; workers, 5 mm. to 9 mm. ; males, 5 mm. to 8 mm. 



Redescribed from numerous queens (two of them homo- 

 types of the queen ridingsii Cress.), 17 workers (two of them 

 homotypes of ridingsii) and nine males. 



Habitat. — Very rare in southeastern Canada, ranging south- 

 ward through the New England and Middle Atlantic States 

 into Georgia and Alabama and westward as far as into east- 

 ern Nebraska. My most western records are Southbend, 

 Nebraska and Louisiana. The species is probably yet to be 

 reported from the eastern portions of Texas, Oklahoma, 

 Kansas and the Dakotas. It is very doubtful if it is present 

 in Florida, southern Louisiana, or the northern parts of 

 Minnesota, Michigan or Maine. In no part of its habitat does 

 it seem to be one of the more common species. It appears 

 to reach its greatest abundance in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West 

 Virginia and Maryland and is apparently confined mainly to 

 the eastern portion of the Transition and Upper and Lower 

 Austral Zones. 



Nests. — I have found but a single nest of this species. It 

 was located on the surface of the ground, among the bases 

 of saplings, in a thicket of alders in Bernardston, Massa- 

 chusetts. The nest was made up of dried grass in the usual 

 way and contained six queens, ten workers and nine males. 



