210 



APID^. 



tennas palide villosus." The type is a faded specimen. This species 

 is readily distinguished by its short head from B. hortorum, which 

 it otherwise resembles. 



13. Bombus nivalis. 



B. hirsutus, ater ; thorace antice, scutello abdominisque basi et apice 

 flavis, ano flavo vel fulvescente. 



Bombus nivalis, DaliTb. Bomb. Scand. 40, tab. fig. 10 $ . 



Zett. Ins. Lapp. 474. 



Nyland. Notis. ur Sallsk. pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. i. 234 $ $ . 



Smith, Bees Great Brit. 222 tf $ g . 



Thorns. Hym. Scand. ii. 35. 

 Apis alpina, Fabr. (Otho) Faun. Groen. 199 (nee Linn.'). 

 Bombus balteatus, Dahlb. Bomb. Scand. 36 $ . 

 Bombus montanus, St.-Farg. Hym. i. 463 $ <S . 



Female. Length 8-9 lines. —The pubescence on the head black, that 

 on the thorax above yellow, more or less inclining to fulvous, with 

 a band of black pubescence between the wings, that on the sides, 

 on the legs, and on the thorax beneath black ; wings subhyaline. 

 Abdomen — the pubescence on the two basal segments yellow, on 

 the third it is black, and on the three apical segments of a fulvous 

 yellow. B.M. 



Worker. Length 6-7 lines.' — Only differs from the female in having 

 the pubescence at the apex of the abdomen paler, inclining to 

 white. B.M. 



Male. Length 6-6i lines. — The face before the antennae clothed 

 with yellow pubescence ; the thorax has a yellow pubescence, with 

 a black band between the wings ; beneath and on the femora it is 

 of a very pale yellow, on the tibiae it is black. Abdomen — the 

 two basal segments with yellow pubescence ; the third and fourth 

 with black, and the apical ones with pale yellowish white ; beneath 

 the pubescence is also yellowish white. B.M. 



This species must vary greatly in size : Dahlbom's figure measures 

 12 lines ; Nylander gives the Lapland specimen at 16 ; and the largest 

 I have seen from Shetland measures 9 lines. The colour of the pubes- 

 cence must depend greatly on the exposure to which the insecthasbeen 

 subjected ; a bright yellow soon fades. Prof. Boheman sent a female 

 from Sweden with the apex of the abdomen bright fulvous. All the 

 sexes were obtained from a nest found near Lerwick, Shetland, in 

 1852, since which time no one has taken the species ; the nest con- 

 tained about a dozen bees only, but fortunately all the sexes. In all 

 probability the insect is not uncommon in Shetland, as the person who 

 took the nest was not an entomologist, and did not know one bee 

 from another. 



