174 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



VIII 



The darkest specimens are entirely black. 1 This is the 

 Apis Jiarrisella of Kir by. 



The coat is slightly more even, slightly stiffer, and slightly 

 shorter than in hortorum, but markedly longer than in latreil- 

 lellus. These coat-quality differences are most noticeable 

 in the yellow hairs on the ist segment when the latter 

 are present. 



The head (viewed from in front) is very long in proportion 

 to its width, less long than in hortorum, but more so than in 

 latreillellus, the cheeks being about half as long as the eyes. 



Worker. Length i i - 1 8 mm. Banded specimens and 

 entirely black specimens occur, but intermediately coloured 

 specimens are seldom found, unless they are very large. 



The banded variety is coloured like the lightest variety 

 of the queen, the only variation towards blackness usually 

 met with being a slight narrowing and darkening of the 

 yellow bands on the thorax and on the ist segment of 

 the abdomen ; the latter band seldom disappears, and in 

 all examples the tail remains white. 



The banded worker may be known from the workers 

 of hortorum and latreillellus by the characters given in the 

 description of the queen, but separation is often difficult 

 in the case of small and worn specimens. 



Male. Scarcely larger than hortorum; length 15-16 

 mm., expanse 30-32 mm. Abdomen rather elongate. 



Banded specimens and entirely black specimens occur, 1 but 

 intermediately coloured specimens are rare. 



Banded specimens are coloured like the male of hortorum, 

 but the sides of the thorax, under the wings, are more or 

 less yellow, while in hortorum they are usually black. The 

 yellow bands are more sharply separated from the black 

 than in hortorum ; those on the thorax are broad, the 

 posterior band being as broad in the middle as the 

 band at the front ; the yellow on the base of the abdomen 

 is usually confined to the ist segment, but occasionally 



1 The only other British species that varies to entirely black is Psithyrus 

 ampestris, p. 2 1 6. 



