232 BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



the sixth segment has a mixture of black pubescence in the 

 middle. B.M. 



Var. ft. The black fasciae on the abdomen subobsolete, the ab- 

 domen and thorax beneath subcinereous. 



The sexes of this species, particularly the females and workers, 

 are difficult to separate from those of B. subterraneus, an4 

 offer few characters which can be pointed out, whereby they 

 may be distinguished, and yet the males and females of the two 

 species may be readily separated ; the females have a shorter 

 pubescence, and their abdomen has a more or less distinct pale 

 fringe on the second and third segments, and all the indivi- 

 duals obtained from a nest, and also others captured in coitu, 

 have the fourth and fifth segments white, unmixed with fuscous 

 hairs, the apex being naked. The variety of the male having 

 the black bands of the abdomen subobsolete, approaches very 

 closely to B. fragrans, but the head is broader, and the yellow 

 pubescence is of a lemon tint, not fulvous as in B.fragrans. The 

 worker described is from a specimen taken from the nest; some- 

 times they are nearly black, but retain the indistinct pale fringe 

 on the third and fourth abdominal segments : an anatomical 

 examination proves this male to be quite distinct from every 

 other male known. 



This species is not common in the London district, but it is 

 to be found in the neighbourhood of Battersea, Fulham, Wands- 

 worth, and generally to the south of the Thames. At Shoebury, 

 below Southend, it abounds; here I met with its nidus, and 

 captured several pairs connected ; it is also very abundant on 

 the coast near Brighton, but no examples have been received 

 from the north of England. 



18. Bombus subterraneus. 



B. hirsutus, ater ; thorace antice flavescenti, ano fusco, interdum 

 flavo-nigresceriti. 



Apis subterranea, Linn. Faun. Suec. p. 425. no. 1718, and type in 

 Cab. Linn. Soc. ; Syst. Nat. i. 961. 51 . 



Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. 322. 37. 



Mailer, Prodr. Zool. Dan. 165. 1928. 

 Apis Harrisella, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 373. 110. t. 18. f . 7 ? , 



%$. 



Apis soroensis, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 354. 98 (nee Fabr.). 

 Bombus subterraneus, Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 345. 10 . 



Dahlb. Bomb. Scand. p. 38. no. 11. 



Drews. ^ Schiodte, Kroy. Tidsskr. ii. 116. 11. 



