182 THE HUMBLE-BEE vm 



11. BOMBUS LATREILLELLUS, Kirby. 1 

 Short-haired Humble-bee. 



Synonym : -subterraneus (Linn.), according to many continental 



authors. 



Queen. Large; length 20-22 mm., expanse 38-41 

 mm. 



Head black. Thorax black with a yellow band in front 

 and a very narrow one behind, the yellow, as in ruderatus, 

 rather deep (except in young specimens), and soon 

 becoming dull and brownish with exposure ; often the 

 band on the front of the thorax is in the middle 

 encroached upon from behind, or divided, by a smudge 

 of black. Abdomen black, with the 4th and 5th segments 

 white, and with a fringe of yellowish or dingy white on 

 the edge of the 3rd segment, a narrower and fainter one on 

 the edge of the 2nd segment ; this being often brownish and 

 scarcely discernible, and often a few yellowish hairs on 

 the edge of the 1st segment: in light specimens, which 

 are not common, the 1 st segment is yellow. 



Coat short very short on the basal segments of the 

 abdomen. 



The head is elongate, but somewhat less so than in 

 ruderatus, the length of the cheeks being distinctly less than 

 half that of the eyes. 



The general appearance is very like that of a queen of 

 ruderatus, but it is always possible to distinguish the one 



1 According to the generally accepted rules of priority, subterraneus, Linn., 

 an older name than latreillellus, Kirby, should be used for this species, and 

 it has been extensively adopted on the Continent, but I do not think it advis- 

 able to abandon the name of latreillellus, by which the particular colour-variety 

 of this species that occurs in Britain and the greater part of Western Europe 

 is universally known. The correct appellation of our bee should thus be 

 "subterraneus, var. latreillellus," but the introduction of the name subter- 

 raneus into the British list at the present time would cause much confusion, 

 because until now it has been applied by British authors to B. ruderatus, 

 British specimens of which often agree with Linnseus's later description of 

 subterraneus, " hirsuta, atra, ano fusco." Some systematists hold the opinion, 

 which is not likely to meet with universal approbation, that early names apply- 

 ing equally to more than one species should be dropped. 



