Insecls. 7017 



the captives out in the morning the males never make any observation 

 on the new locality, but fly straight away instantly, whereas the workers 

 come out with great caution, taking great notice of the entrance to the 

 nest, and going farther and farther gradually from the place ; this is 

 done until they become quite acquainted with the locality. 



B. Lucorum. The males of this species appear about the second 

 week in July; the females make their appearance early in March. 

 These bees build their nest about six inches to a foot under ground. 

 This species is very numerous all over Great Britain ; their nests are 

 found in dry places, small woods and hedge banks ; the flight of the 

 queens is very steady, and the workers on issuing out of their nests 

 generally ascend from thirty to forty feet in the air. This species is 

 very numerous in July and August, often amounting to three hundred 

 workmen and from fifty to sixty males besides the queens. They are 

 not nearly so irascible as B. terrestris ; I have taken nests of B. Lucorum 

 very often without receiving more than one or two stings on my hand. 

 The males are different in appearance from the workers, being nearly 

 all over a deep buff colour, and the antennae are a little longer as usual, 

 but not so straight as those of the worker. I have captured hundreds 

 of their nests, and watched them for many hours ; I never saw one 

 male return into the nests after leaving. Their flight is remarkably 

 steady and high in the air. They are my greatest favourites of all the 

 Bombi. There is a great similarity between ' these and B. terrestris 

 both in the queens and workers, with a little more white at the tip of 

 the abdomen, but the males are very unlike. This species is by far 

 the most docile of about seven or eight which I have removed to my 

 garden at various times during the last fifty years. The males amuse 

 themselves on fine days for several hours in going their round of haunts, 

 but different from those of B. subterraneus, as the former never fly 

 very near the ground, but pass through hedges, bushes, shrubs and 

 and low trees, keeping to the same places exactly in every round. 

 This species is greatly infested with small Acari, which destroy the 

 queens ; they seldom remain during winter in the old nest, but in this 

 there may be an exception to the general rule, for in a most populous 

 nest which I look in Scotland, 1 found, in a compartment near the new 

 combs, the remains of about three hundred more cells entire, but 

 covered with mould, and evidently the combs of the previous year. I 

 noticed these bees one mild autumn busy as late as the 9th of Novem- 

 ber on some flowers in my garden ; they were small workers and not 

 queens. I have also noted this bee as the earliest to commence 

 XVIII. 2 G 



