BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 225 



white is always mixed more or less with fulvous hairs at its junc- 

 tion with the black fascia. B.M. 



Male. Length 7-8 lines. The pubescence on the head entirely 

 black, the collar and second segment of the abdomen clothed 

 with pubescence of an orange-yellow, usually rather brighter 

 than in the females ; the apex of the abdomen clothed with 

 pale tawny hairs, sometimes white at the extreme apex. B.M. 



Relying on an examination of the typical specimen in the 

 Linnaean Cabinet, which agrees with our insect, I conclude that 

 authors hitherto have been misled by the description in the 

 * Fauna Suecica ' : " Abdomen antice nigrum, dein flavum, medio 

 nigrum, postice album " the latter being pale yellow in the 

 typical specimen. Kirby appears to have considered the bee 

 with the tawny apex to the abdomen distinct from that with 

 the white one, which is the female of B. lucorum, but still with 

 some doubt ; and on being informed by Mr. Trimmer that he had 

 found both in the same nest, he at once reduced it to a mere 

 variety. Having repeatedly taken entire broods of nearly all 

 our Bombi, I have learnt, that the fact of finding one or two 

 specimens of a distinct species mixed with a brood, can only be 

 regarded as accidental : thus, amongst the moss-building species 

 it is not an uncommon occurrence to find workers of jB. muscorum 

 in nests of B. sylvarum. I have taken many nests of B. terrestris, 

 but never found the female of B. lucorum in one ; nevertheless it 

 may occasionally occur. If any doubt could possibly exist of the 

 female described being distinct from the bee with the white ab- 

 dominal apex, the fact of my having obtained upwards of 50 

 females and 100 males, all agreeing with the above descriptions, 

 from the same nest, and also having captured several pairs in 

 coitu, must set the. matter at rest : and it may also be observed, 

 that all authors agree in describing B. lucorum $ , but none have 

 described its female. 



This species is found in all parts of the United Kingdom ; its 

 colonies are more numerous than those of any other Bombus 

 found in this country : in one nest were found 107 males, 56 fe- 

 males, and 180 workers. They burrow sometimes to a consi- 

 derable depth, or probably avail themselves in many instances 

 of some ready-formed entrance, as nests have been found nearly 

 five feet from the entrance, in banks of light earth. 



13. Bombus lucorum. 

 B. hirsutus, ater ; thorace antice. abdominisque fascia flavis, ano 



L5 



