214 



BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN, 



be proved by an examination of the inhabitants of nests in the 

 autumn, when all the sexes can be found in them, and also by 

 an inspection of the generative organs of the varieties. 



2. Bombus senilis. 



B. hirsuto-flavescens ; thorace ferrugineo-fulvo. 



Apis senilis, Fadr. St/si. Ent. p. 382. 26; Ent, Sysf. ii. 324. 44 ; 



Syst. Piez. ? cT , Cad, Dom. Banks. Linn, Soc. 

 Apis muscorum, Fadr. Syst. Ent. p. 381. 17, 



Schrank, Ins, Aust. no. 801. 



Rossij Faun, Etrus. ii. 100. 904. 



Christ. Ilym. 130. t. 8. f. 3 & t. 11. f. 8. 



Kirby, Mon. Ap, AngL ii. 317. 74, ^ Cab, Eat, Soc. 



Don, Eng. Ins, xi. 70. t. 382. f. 2. 



Latr. Hist. Nat, xiv. 65. 7. 



Dahlb. Bomb, Scand. 47. 27. 



Westw. Nat. Libr. xxxviii. 253. t. 16. f. 3. 



Drews, &( SchiMte. Kroy, Tidsskr, ii. 107. 1. 

 Bombus senilis, Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 352. 50 ? 



Smithy ZooL ii. 544. L 

 Bremus muscorum, Jurine, Hym. 261. 



Bombus cognatus, Steph, Brit, Ent. Supp. vii. 17. t. 43. f . 3 ? . 

 Reaum, Hist, Ins, vi. 36. t. 2. f, 1, 2, 3. 



Feynale, Length 8-9 lines.— Head, the pubescence entirely 

 fulvous; the pubescence on the thorax above is of a rich rufo- 

 fulvous, on the sides and beneath it is very pale, nearly white ; 

 the tegulse rufo-piceous ; wings subhyaline, their apical" margins 

 fuscous, the nervures rufo-fuscous ; the legs have a pale yellow 

 pubescence, the corbicula of the same colour; the basal joint 

 of the tarsi ferruginous within. Abdomen clothed wdth pale 

 fulvous-yellow pubescence ; the pubescence is sometimes of a 

 lemon colour, and at other times inclining to orange. B.M. 



Worker, Length 6^ lines. — Coloured exactly like the fe- 

 male. BM. 



Var. a. Length 5 lines.— Resembling the former very c^losely, 

 but having a mixture of black hairs on the vertex and on the 

 sides of the disk of the thorax. 



"Var. ^. Length 4 lines. — The colouring more obscure, the 



black hairs more predominant, intermixing with the pubescence 

 on the legs. 



Male, Length 6-7 lines.— The pubescence like that of the large- 

 sized worker ; the mandibles fringed with stiff curled fuscous 

 hairs ; the antennae as long as the thorax, the joints subarcuate ; 





i 



