160 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



3. BOMBUS LUCORUM, Linnaeus. 

 Small Earth Humble-bee. 



Closely related to B. terrestris. 



QUEEN. Slightly smaller than terrestris ; length 19-20 

 mm., expanse 36-39 mm. 



Resembles terrestris, but the yellow bands are of a lemon 

 tint and the tail is white. The yellow bands are less 

 inclined to melanism than in the case of terrestris. 



Worker. Length 11- 17 mm. 



Differs from the queen only in size. Distinguishable 

 from terrestris worker by the pure white tail. 



Male. Length 14-16 mm., expanse 30-33 mm. 



The colouring may be described as that of terrestris, 

 with the yellow paler and more widespread, and with the 

 tail pure white instead of tawny-white. 



Hairs on the face and on the top of the head lemon- 

 yellow. Thorax with a broad lemon-yellow band in front, 

 and a narrower, more or less indefinite band of the same 

 colour or of whitish behind, the space between the bands 

 being black, more or less suffused with white or lemon. 

 The abdomen in the majority of specimens has the 1st 

 and 2nd segments lemon-yellow, with the 3rd and part of 

 the 4th segments black, but in the yellowest specimens 

 the first four segments are lemon-yellow, with only a black 

 band on the 4th segment ; the white of the tail, which 

 usually commences on the 4th segment, shows no tendency 

 to tawniness. 



The black hairs are often mixed with white or white- 

 tipped hairs, and there are sometimes narrow white bands 

 on the 3rd and 4th segments. 



Dark specimens are coloured almost like terrestris, 

 but the tail remains pure white. 



The coat is longer and less even than in terrestris. 



Antennas short as in terrestris ; length of flagellum 

 5 mm. 



Armature almost identical with that of terrestris. 



