BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 233 



Bombus subterraneus, Nyland. Ap. Boreal, p. 239. 27. 



Smith, Cat. Hym. Acul. p. 102. 9 <? ? . 

 Bombus Harrisellus, Westw. Nat. Libr. xxxviii. 256. t. 18. f . 1 <? . 



Smith, Zool. ii. 550. 16. 

 Bombus soroensis, St. Farg. Hym. i. 468. 14. 

 Bombus flavo-nigrescens, Smith, Zool. iv. 1556. 



Female. Length 9-10 lines. The pubescence black, the collar 

 having on each side a faint trace of yellow, a similar obscure 

 tinge of yellow on the lateral margins of the scutellum ; the 

 apical margin of the third segment of the abdomen and the 

 fourth clothed with fuscous or dirty-white pubescence, on the 

 fifth it is black ; beneath, the pubescence is black, towards the 

 apex at the sides it is fuscous. B.M. 



Var. /3. The collar, scutellum, and sides of the basal segment 

 with bright fulvous-yellow pubescence ; the apex of the abdo- 

 men white, with a faint yellow tinge. 



Var. y. The lateral margins of the scutellum very faintly tinged 

 with yellow, and the fourth segment of the abdomen obscurely 

 fuscous, with a faint yellow tinge. 



Var. 6\ Entirely black, except the apex of the abdomen, which 

 is obscurely fuscous. 



Var. 6. Totally black. 



Worker. Length 5-8 lines. Differs in no respect from the 

 female, except in size ; in colour it undergoes the same varia- 

 tions. B.M. 



Male. Length 6-8 lines. The pubescence black ; the collar, 

 scutellum, and basal segment of the abdomen yellow ; the fourth, 

 fifth and sixth white ; the mandibles bearded with ferruginous 

 hairs. B.M. 



The male varies like the other sexes, becoming gradually 

 black, the most common form being that which is described. 

 It is very like the male of B. hortorum, from which however it 

 differs in having shorter pubescence, and in being a more com- 

 pact insect; the pubescence in B. hortorum is somewhat ragged; 

 they also differ in having the beard on the mandibles of different 

 colours, in B. hortorum it is black, in B. subterraneus it is fer- 

 ruginous. 



The female greatly resembles that of B. hortorum, but its abdo- 

 men is of a different form, not so triangular, more rounded at the 

 sides and convex above ; but that which most easily separates 

 them is the tongue, which in B. subterraneus is proportionably 

 shorter. Variety 6\ is the JB. soroensis of St. Fargeau, as appears 

 upon an examination of the typical specimen in Mr. Westwood's 

 collection ; it is also the A. soroensis of Kirby ; the female, when 



