16. BOMBUS. 207 



10. Boinbus pratorum. 



B. hirsutus, ater, thorace antice sulphureo-flavo, abdominis segmento 

 secundo fascia subinterrupta flava. Mas birsuto flavus, tborace 

 postice nigro marginato ; abdomine fascia atra, auo fulvo. 



Bombus pratorum, Illiy. May. v. 1G8 § $ . 



Dahlb. Hym. Scand. 36. 



Drews. $ Schiodte, Kroy. Tidsskr. ii. Ill (1838). 



Smith, Zool. ii. 548 ; Bees Great Brit. 220; Entomol. ii. 282. 



Nyland. Notis. ur Stilish, pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. ii. 263. 



Sehenck, Nass. Bien. 155. 



Thorns. Hym. Scand. ii. 39. 

 Apis pratorum, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 960, et Cab. Mies. Linn. Soc. $ , 



Sehrank, Ins. Austr. 396. 



Kirby, Man. Apum Angl. ii. 360 $ . 

 Bremus collaris, Panz. Faun. Germ. 94. 12 § var. 

 Apis subinterrupta, Kirby, lib. cit. 356 £ . 

 Bombus subinterruptus, Latr. Hist. Nat. des Crust, et Lns. xiv. 64 $ . 



IUig. May. v. 107 $ . 



Dahlb. Bomb. Scand. 35 $>. 



St.-Fary. Hym. i. 461 $ j?. 



Dreics. §• Schiodte, Kroy. Tidsskr. ii. Ill (1838). 

 Apis burrellana, Kirby, lib. cit. ii. 358 J . 

 Bombus burrellanus, Dchlb. Hym. Scand. 43 tf • 



Thorns. Opusc. Ent. 255. 

 Bombus arbustorum, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 347 J (coll. Ham.). 

 Bombus epbippium, Dahlb. Hym. Scand. 37, tab. fig. 6 $?• 

 Bombus lulliauus, Nyland. lib. cit. i. 236 cS • 



Female. Length 6-8 lines. — Head, the pubescence entirely black. 

 Thorax with fulvous-yellow pubescence before the wings and black 

 behind ; wings subhvaline, with their apical margins clouded. 

 Abdomen — the first, third, and fourth segments with black pubes- 

 cence, on the second it is yellow, and on the apical segments it is 

 fulvous ; the yellow band is sometimes interrupted. B.M. 



Var. /3. The abdomen without the yellow band. 



Worker. Length 3|-5 lines. — Coloured as in the female. B.M. 



Yar. The abdomen without a yellow band, the apex rufo-fulvous. 



Male. Length 5-6 lines. — The pubescence on the head yellow, 

 intermixed with fuscous hairs on the vertex and sides of the face ; 

 the mandibles fringed with rufo-fulvous hairs. Thorax, the pu- 

 bescence before the wings yellow, with sometimes a few yellow 

 hairs on the scutellum. The two basal segments of the abdomen 

 with yellow pubescence ; on the fifth and sixth it is fulvous. 



Yar. ft. The black pubescence thickly intermixed with yellow, which 

 in some lights gives the insect the appearance of being entirely 

 yellow. B.M. 



This is a very common species, particularly so in the north of 

 England ; the male frequently making its appearance as early as the 

 middle of May, it is usually the first Bombus of that sex that appears. 

 The sexes are very variable in their colouring, so much so that the 



