HENRY J. FRANKLIN. 435 



Pile short and rather coarse. Head of females, except occiput, ana 

 thorax of same sex, except anterior part of dorsum, black ; abdomen 

 variable, but always with second dorsal segment for the most part covered 

 with yellow pile. Wings of females very dark and their legs black ; 

 malar space rather short. 



Queen, //"mi^.— Symmetrical trapezium-shaped ; face and sides en- 

 tirely black ; triangular patch of pile on occiput with apical (anterior) 

 part black and basal (posterior) part pure yellow, sometimes with a 

 slight admixture of black hairs. Labrum with tubercle-like areas 

 sharply and rather deeply concaved at the summit, the concaved sur- 

 faces rather smooth, but very sparsely punctate ; median shelf-like pro- 

 jection of good width and rather prominent ; translucent areas visible 

 to the naked eye. Malar space about as long as its width at the apex, 

 less than one-fourth as long as the eye. Clypeus sparsely punctate, 

 smooth and shining. Ocelli typical and typically placed for Bombias. 

 Flagellum of antennae about twice as long as the scape ; third antennal 

 segment about equal to the fourth and fifth taken together, the fifth 

 longer than the fourth. 



Thorax. — Entirely black, except the anterior part of dorsum back 

 to the tegulas yellow ; the yellow extending down on the sides, in front 

 of the tegulae, to somewhat below the level of the bases of the wings ; 

 disc naked and shining. 



Abdomen. — Dorsum: segment one black; segment two, except 

 basal middle, covered with yellow pile ; segments three and four black ; 

 five and six covered with ferruginous pile of varying shade. Venter 

 entirely black, except apical segment, this often bearing a sprinkling 

 of ferruginous hairs. Hypopygium without median carina. 



Wings. — Dark brown, the fore pair especially dark. Fore wings 

 lightest in the region beyond the veins, darkest in the median and sub- 

 median cells and in the anterior portion of the second discoidal and 

 about the tip of the radial cell ; with very slight violaceous reflections. 



Legs. — Coxae, trochanters, femora, anterior and middle tibiae and 

 corbicular fringes all black ; posterior metatarsi bearing no very long 

 hairs. 



Worker. — Much like the queen, but the wings usually considerably 

 lighter and the triangular patch of pile on the occiput often entirely 

 yellow ; the scutellum sometimes with a strong admixture of yellow 

 hairs ; sides of first abdominal segment often with some yellow pile. 



Male. Head. — Very broadly rounded, trapeziform. Face pretty 

 well covered with nearly pure yellow pile, sometimes with a few black 

 hairs intermixed, this pile almost touching the inner margin of the 

 eye on either side ; occiput covered with pure yellow pile ; sides of head , 

 behind eyes, bearing yellow pile for most part. Malar space about half 

 as long as its width at apex ; clypeus for most part covered up with 

 pile ; ocelli placed more than one-third of the distance from the supra- 



TRANS. AM. EKT. SOC, XXXVIII. 



