1 84 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



sometimes so few that it is necessary to use a lens to see 

 them. 



In dark specimens the pale band separating the black 

 bands on the 2nd and 3rd segments is faint and broken, 

 and there are traces of black bands on the 4th and 5 th 

 segments. 



Coat short ; hairs on the legs short. 



Antennae long ; length of fiagellum 6 mm. 



Armature very like that of B. distinguendus. 



A dark male from Hayling Island in the Saunders' collection is 

 black with the exception of a pale yellow band on the front of the 

 thorax, an indistinct one on the back of the thorax, whitish fringes 

 on the edges of the 4th and 5th segments, and faint whitish fringes 

 on the edges of the 2nd and 3rd segments. 



In most years, B. latreillellus is abundant in the 

 Deal and Dover district ; it is also common in 

 Suffolk and in many localities in the south and east 

 of England. In the north of England it appears to 

 be scarce, and I can find no evidence that it has 

 been taken either in Scotland or in Ireland. 



The queens, like those of lapidarias, appear late, 

 and in the Dover district may be seen searching for 

 nests at the end of May and early in June. 



The queen often rears a very large brood. Two 

 nests that I examined in the stage just before the 

 first workers emerged had a number of additional 

 cocoons fastened to the rear of the main cluster. In 

 one of these nests, shown in Fig. 27, the additional 

 cocoons numbered nine, and those in the main 

 cluster sixteen, making twenty-five in all, many 

 more than the queen could spread her body over. 

 The main cluster was easily distinguished by the 

 groove in its centre, and by the darker appearance 



