HENRY J. FRANKLIN. 355 



tinctly narrower towards their ends and with much smaller 

 and less prominent apical projections than in bimaculatus. 

 Vagans is very closely related to B. cockerelli, from which it 

 can be separated by the greater amount of dark pile between 

 the bases of the wings and of yellow pile on the apical dor- 

 sal segments of cockerelli, and to B. bolsteri, from which it 

 differs much as it does from cockerelli. 



The fact that the vagans queen of Cresson and the consi- 

 milis queen of Cresson have both seemed to demand the 

 workers and males above described, in order to make out a 

 full complement of castes for a species, has long kept this 

 species in confusion. The capture of all three castes in the 

 same nest, as above noted, satisfactorily decides this matter. 

 There still remains some doubt, however, as to which of 

 these queens Smith originally described. I corresponded 

 somewhat with Col. C. T. Bingham of the British Museum 

 about this matter, but was unable to get information which 

 would definitely decide the question. It is evident that 

 Smith's type is not a queen of ^erplextis, the only other possi- 

 bility, as Col. Bingham wrote me that the type has the pleura 

 covered with yellow pile to the bases of the legs. Col. 

 Bingham further wrote, concerning Smith's type, that "the 

 pubescence on the basal two segments of the abdomen is 

 fluffy, the dividing line between the yellow and the dark 

 pubescence not being more sharply defined than in your 

 specimens No. 25 " (" specimens No. 25 " referred to speci- 

 mens of the queen of perplexus which I sent him). This 

 description of the pile on the abdomen of the type does not 

 apply well to the affinis queen, as that queen has the pile on 

 the dorsum of the abdomen short and the line between the 

 black and the yellow sharply defined. Furthermore, the 

 type, as shown by the original description and by Col. Bing- 

 ham's letter, is decidedly smaller than the normal affinis 

 queen and is of the same size as the normal consimilis queen. 

 For these reasons, I prefer to consider the consimilis queen 

 of Cresson, rather than the affinis queen, the same as the 

 vagans of Smith until someone, who knows the two queens 

 well, shall examine Smith's type and give a full and decisive 

 report thereon. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXX VIII. 



