30 g Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



Queen, Regular Form. — Head black with a patch of pale yellow on middle 

 of face between and below bases of antennae and a smaller, fainter one above 

 antennae, vertex yellow. Thorax with a wide pale yellow band in front and a 

 narrower one behind separated by a black band, pleura pale yellow to base of 

 legs. Abdomen: segment 1 pale yellow, segments 2 and 3 red, segments 4, 5 

 and 6 pale yellow with more or less black in the middle of the segments. Length, 

 20 mm. 



Queen, Melanic Variety johanseni, n. var. — Head black, face black, 

 a few dingy pale yellow hairs on vertex. Thorax with a band of dingy 

 pale yellow in front, more or less narrowed by encroachment of the black, but 

 black hairs are not mixed in with the yellow to any great extent; a broad black 

 band between the wings and a narrow pale yellow band on the posterior part of 

 the thorax, this band interrupted in the middle by an extension of the black 

 from the interaler band; pleura black, in some specimens faintly tinged with 

 yellow. Abdorrfen with the first segment pale yellow interrupted in the middle 

 with decumbent dark hair which is scanty; segments 2 and 3 red; segments 

 4, 5 and 6 black with more or less pale yellow hair on sides of segment 4. Hair 

 on legs and underside black, corbicular fringes tinged with red in the type and 

 in several specimens. Length, 18 to 20 mm. 



Worker, Regular Form. — Coloured like the queen. 



Worker, Melanic Variety johanseni. — Coloured like the queen of this 

 variet} r . 



Six males from Nome, Alaska, August 24-25, 1916 (F. Johansen); six males 

 from Teller, Alaska, July 26, and five on July 29, 1913 (F. Johansen); nine 

 males from Herschel island, Yukon Territory, end of July, 1916 (F. Johansen); 

 six males from Bernard harbour, Northwest Territories, July 30 to August 7, 

 1915 (F. Johansen); one August 8, two August 10, two August 14, 1915, all 

 from Bernard harbour (F. Johansen). 



One queen of the regular form from Barter island, Alaska, July 4, 1914 

 (D. Jenness); one, abdomen missing, from west of Collinson point, Alaska, 

 June 11, 1914 (E. de K. Leffingwell). 



Twenty-nine queens of the melanic variety johanseni, all taken by Mr. F. 

 Johansen, as follows: One from Bernard harbour, Northwest Territories, July 3 

 (type), two July 4, one July 6, two July 7, one July 11, one July 12, one July 19, 

 nine July 30 to August 7, one August 8, two August 10, one August 14, all from 

 Bernard harbour in 1915; one Chantry island (Bernard harbour), June 17, one 

 Bernard harbour July 9, and three Bernard harbour July 14, 1916. One queen 

 from Port Epworth, Coronation gulf, taken by Mr. J. J. O'Neill on July 15, 

 1915, in bad condition, appears to agree with the description of johanseni. One 

 queen from Herschel island, Yukon Territory, end of July, 1916 (F. Johansen), 

 has the yellow bands on the thorax as wide as the black band and has a narrow 

 pale yellow band on the apices of segments 2 and 3. 



The melanic variety johanseni approaches melanopygus Nyl., which, accord- 

 ing to Franklin, can be readily separated from sylvicola by the difference in the 

 coloration of the head and fore part of the thorax, which is of "thoroughly 

 mixed black and yellow hairs." However, in specimens of melanopygus from 

 British Columbia the black hairs stand out conspicuously among the yellow on 

 the fore part of the thorax. 



B. sylvicola is probably the same species as lapponicus Fab. found in 

 Northern Europe and the mountains of Britain. The coloration of both species 

 is the same and the spreading of the red to the fourth segment as noted in five 

 of the Bernard harbour males occurs in varieties of lapponicus found in Scotland 

 and the Pyrenees. 



