116 PACKARD, HUMBLE BEES 



Compared with B. virginicus, the head is smaller, 

 antennae slenderer, front more yellow, and there are not 

 so many yellow hairs beneath the abdomen as in that 

 species, while the first tarsal joint is narrower and all the 

 joints are a little more fuscons. 



Female. Head a little narrower than usual ; front dark, 

 with a yellow tuft above and below the antennas. Black ; 

 thorax and the two basal abdominal rings pale lemon- 

 yellow. Abdomen wholly black beneath. Legs black ; 

 femora beneath black ; first tarsal and remaining joints 

 black. Length, .65 — .80 ; breadth, .28 — .42 ; expanse of 

 wings, 1.04 inches. 



Worker. Length, .35— .50 ; breadth, .17— .22 inch. 



This species is full and plump. The larger sized 

 females have finer, denser hairs than the workers, where 

 they are more than usually loose and uneven. These last 

 are often found with very pale yellow hairs. 



In a colony of thirty workers collected at Warwick, 

 Mass., by Mr. Putnam, there occurred no special variation 

 except in the different shades of yellow on the fronts. It 

 is one of our common species, and occurred abundantly 

 the last of August in company with B. ternarius about 

 Chamberlain Lake at the head waters of the Penobscot 

 river. 



Bombus ternarius Say. 



Female. Head broad and short ; front broad with yel- 

 low tufts above and below the antennas. Black; thorax and 

 basal ring of the abdomen yellow ; an irregularly defined 

 black band between the wings, sometimes produced behind 

 into a triangular point on the scutellum, extending to the 

 base of the abdomen ; second and third abdominal rings 

 red ; fourth yellow, and the tip black ; beneath black, the 

 posterior edges of the third and fourth abdominal rings 

 provided with yellow hairs. Legs black ; tarsi fuscous, 

 especially the inner side of the first joint ; femora clothed 

 beneath with yellow hairs. Wings pale smoky, of the 

 same size and form as in B. vagans. Length, .70 ; breadth, 

 .32 ; expanse of wings, 1.30 inches. 



Worker. Length, .40 — .45 ; breadth, .17 — .25 inch. 



Male. " Colored same as the female," Cresson. 



