HENRY J. FRANKLIN. 409 



Wings. — Lighter, as a rule, than those of either the queen or the 

 worker, but still deeply stained with brown and very dark for the wings 

 of a Botnbus male. 



Legs. — Black ; the hind coxae sometimes with considerable yellow 

 pile on their outer sides, and the femora often with much yellow hair. 



Dimensions . — Length : queen, 17 mm. to 24 mm. ; worker, 10 mm. 

 to 17 mm. ; male, 14 mm. to 17 mm. Spread of wings: queen, 40 

 mm. to 48 mm. ; worker, 25 mm. to 37 mm. ; male, 35 mm. to 37 mm. 

 Width of abdomen at second segment : queen, 8| mm. to \\\ mm. ; 

 worker, ^\ mm. to 8 mm. ; male, 7 mm. to 8^ mm. 



Redescribed from eleven queens, many workers and seven 

 males. 



Variation. — Most of the specimens from California have 

 the yellow on the dorsum of the thorax encroaching more or 

 less on the black band between the bases of the wings, and 

 some specimens even have this band entirely obliterated, 

 the dorsum being entirely covered with yellow pile. As this 

 tendency to lose the interalar band is noticeable only on Cali- 

 fornian specimens, it seems to me that the form with the 

 band very nearly or entirely obliterated should be recognized 

 as a subspecies. I will, therefore, give it the name sonorus 

 flavodorsalis subsp. nov. The type specimens, one queen 

 and one worker, are deposited in the collection of the Ameri- 

 can Entomological Society. 



Habitat. — I have records of this species as follows : Texas 

 (Devil's River, Kerrville, Llano and San Antonio), New 

 Mexico (Silver City, Alamogordo, White Mountains and 

 Forks of Ruidoso Creek), Arizona (Reef, Palmerlee and 

 Huachuca Mountains), California (Palm Springs, Inyo 

 County and San Piedro and Claremont, Los Angeles County) , 

 Mexico (San Luis, Cholula, San Luis Potosi, Morelia and 

 Guadalajara), Lower California (Comondu, El Taste and 

 San Jose del Cabo). This is mainly a Lower Austral form, 

 but it apparently runs over into the Upper Austral Zone 

 somewhat. Titus, on the authority of Ashmead, has included 

 it in his list of Colorado species (Can. Ent., XXXIV, p. 44), 

 but it seems extremely doubtful if it occurs in that State. 

 How far south does it range in Mexico ? What are its east- 

 ern and northern limits in the United States ? 



TRANS. AM. KNT. SCO., XXXVIII. (52) 



