176 THE HUMBLE-BEE vm 



Most of the little differences that separate 

 ruderatus from hortorum namely, the larger size 

 of the queens, the deeper tint of the yellow bands, 

 the shorter, less shaggy coat, and the greater ten- 

 dency to disappear in the north are similar to 

 those that divide terrestris from lucorum. The 

 parallelism extends even to the habits, for the 

 queens of riideratus appear in their greatest num- 

 bers later in the spring than those of hortortim, 

 also they are more prolific, and the colonies are 

 more populous and break up later. Ruderatus, like 

 terrestris, flourishes under a great variety of con- 

 ditions ; its distribution extends to the north coast 

 of Africa, and even to Madeira, and it was success- 

 fully introduced with terrestris into New Zealand 

 in 1885. 



The black variety is not a different race from 

 the banded variety, but both are often produced by 

 the same parent. 



A colony taken by Tuck at Bury St. Edmunds 

 on September 10, 1898, out of a mole's nest "quite 

 five feet away from the entrance-hole," was ex- 

 amined by Saunders and the result recorded in the 

 Entomologist J s Monthly Alagazine for November 

 1898. It contained 8 queens of the variety having 

 obscure yellow bands on the front and back of the 

 thorax, and the 4th segment of the abdomen dusky 

 white ; 3 black queens, 19 banded workers, 14 

 black workers, 1 banded male, and 1 black male. 



A populous colony that I took at Ripple on 

 July 7, 191 1, contained 51 banded workers and 



