Specific Characters in the Bee Genus Colletes 36 
maequalis, wrote in 1895: ‘“‘Say says that his species flies in 
March and April. I have taken it from the 20th of March to the 
28th of May, while the species which Cresson has doubtfully re- 
ferred to C. inaequalis I have taken only from the 30th of August 
to the 7th of October. This early species which agrees with Say’s 
description of C. inaequalis, | have compared with the types of 
C. propinqua in the collection of the American Entomological 
Society. I have also examined the types of C. canadensis. A 
specimen which Mr. Cresson doubtfully referred to C. canadensis 
is nothing, I think, but C. inaequalis.” At my request Mr. Vier- 
eck kindly compared the types of propinqua and canadensis and 
he also considers them as quite identical. 
This species enjoys a particularly broad range, occurring 
throughout the United States and southern Canada east of the 
Rocky mountains, giving place on the south Atlantic seaboard 
and along the Gulf to a red-colored variety. In the light of the 
material at hand, typical inaequalis may be said to range from 
southern Maine (Waldoboro), central New Hampshire (Han- 
over), southern Michigan (Grand Rapids), and southern Wis- 
consin (Milwaukee) west to western Nebraska (Sioux county, 
Halsey), eastern Kansas (Baldwin), eastern Oklahoma (Ard- 
more) and northeastern Texas (Wolf City), and south to north- 
ern Virginia’ (Falls Church) and southern Illinois (Carlinville) ; 
but doubtless additional material would extend its range consid- 
erably to the southward. It is a vernal species, flying in Ne- 
braska from April 6 to May 20 and reaching its maximum abund- 
ance during the last week in April and the first in May. It visits 
the flowers of a great variety of trees and shrubs, including the 
various species of the genera Acer, Prunus, Salix, Ribes, and 
Rubus, and several early flowers such as Anemone virginiana and 
Lomatium foeniculaceum as well. In southern Illinois Robertson 
says this species flies from March 20 to May 31 and is polytropic. 
In New England the season is March 26 to June 5, and the bee 
is most numerous from April 20 to May 15, and occurs on Clay- 
tonia virginica, Caltha palustris, Dendrium buxifolium, Tarax- 
acum and Dentaria, but is most abundant on wild plum and wil- 
low. Occasionally individuals of this species emerge in the fall— 
73 
