110 PACKARD, HUMBLE BEES 



be dissected open for the purpose of finding the Stylops 

 and Conops lodged within. The author would be greatly 

 obliged for material to aid him in the study of our wild 

 bees, and would take pleasure in corresponding with those 

 interested in the study of their habits and forms. 



Bombus fervidus Fabricius. 



Male. Head yellow in front both above and below the 

 antennae. Thorax yellow. Abdomen yellow with the tip 

 black. The black band between the wings is broader 

 than in the female, while also the front is much narrower 

 and the legs and wings are paler. Length, .65 — .70 ; 

 breadth, .30— .32 inch. 



Female. Head long in front; black, with a few yellow 

 hairs above the insertion of the antennae. Whole body 

 lemon yellow except a narrow black band between the 

 wings, and the two black terminal rings of the abdomen. 

 Wings not as dark as in B. pennsylvanicus, but dark 

 smoky. Legs with the second to the fifth tarsal joints 

 very little longer and slenderer than in the females of the 

 other species, though hardly differing from B. pennsylva- 

 nicus to which this species seems nearest allied ; they are 

 black ; tibice with fuscous hairs on the tip and along the 

 edges, while the first tarsal joint is dark fuscous above, 

 beneath much lighter. Compared with the male, this sex 

 often differs in having no yellow hairs below the antennae, 

 while throughout the body the hairs are finer, shorter 

 and more dense. The tip of the abdomen is pure black, 

 while in the male it is partly yellow. Length, 1 — 1.25 ; 

 breadth, .40 — .45 inch. 



Worker. Only differs in size from the female. Length, 

 .40— .60 ; breadth, .17— .35 inch. 



In a nest of this species, collected by Mr. Putnam 

 at Warwick, Mass., which numbered five females and 

 forty workers, all had black fronts below the insertion 

 of the antennas. But another colony of twenty fe- 

 males and workers from Bridport, Vt., had the fronts 

 almost wholly yellow, with a few exceptions. This was 

 especially marked in the larger sized females, while 

 most of the smaller sized females had black fronts. I am 

 hardly prepared to say that such differences as these 



