i 9 4 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



Antennae with each joint of the flagellum much swollen 

 in the middle behind. Length of flagellum 5^ mm. 

 Armature distinct. 



This species is very common throughout the 

 United Kingdom, but there is no record of it from 

 Orkney or Shetland. Its nest is on the surface of 

 the ground, often in grass or under ivy, and, like 

 pratorum, it prefers to dwell in woods rather than 

 in open country. I have found nests in the thatch 

 of a cow-lodge, in a tuft of pampas grass, in the 

 grubbed-up stump of a tree, in a robin's nest, in an 

 old shoe, and in a decayed and broken kettle, but 

 never under the ground. 



In most specimens from the Dover district the 

 thorax is more or less blackened. The remarkable 

 arrangement of colour in which the whole upper 

 side is tawny except the 1st segment and base of 

 the 2nd segment (which are pale yellow), with black 

 at the sides of each of the segments except the 6th, 

 approaches that of the Norwegian variety arcticus, 

 and has appeared in several workers found in a 

 nest at Ripple. 



In the south of France the whole upper side 

 is orange (var. pascuorum), while in Zealand it is 

 perfectly black (var. mniorum). 



