544 Insects. 



the description, " anus acutiusculus," agrees best with Barbutellus, 

 but not with Panzer's figure. 



Sp. 4. Apathus nemorum. 

 A. nemorum) Fab. Bremus aestivalis, Panzer. A. vestalis, Kirby. 



I found a specimen of this species in the Banksian cabinet, label- 

 led by Fabricius ; it is a true Psithyrus, and identical with Kirby's 

 insect ; it also agrees with the description in the ' Sy sterna Entomo- 

 logise,' the yellow band on the collar being sometimes interrupted and 

 sometimes entirely obliterated. The B. aestivalis of Panzer represents 

 it very correctly. The colouring of the male resembles that of the 

 female, with the addition of a few reddish hairs at the extreme tip of 

 the abdomen. 



Genus. — Bombus, Latr. 



Sp. 1. Bombus senilis, Fabr. 

 A. muscorum, Kirby's Mon. 



This and the following species are extremely difficult to separate in 

 long-disclosed specimens, since the hairs then change colour ; — the 

 bright yellow to pale tawny and the black hairs to grey. The cha- 

 racters pointed out by Mr. Kirby however hold good in recent speci- 

 mens. In B. senilis the hairs of the corbicula on the tibia are pale, 

 whereas they are black in the following species ; those on the head 

 and face of B. senilis are also pale, and the abdomen is proportiona- 

 bly longer : the males, females and neuters have the same distin- 

 guishing peculiarities. 1 have frequently taken the nests of both 

 species ; in one of B. senilis, which I took in the summer of 1832, I 

 did not find a specimen differing in any of the characteristic peculia- 

 rities above stated. Having adopted the name under which Fabricius 

 described the male, it is necessary to give my reasons for so doing. 

 In the Linnean cabinet is the original specimen labelled in the hand- 

 writing of the illustrious Swede, " No. 32, muscorum," which number 

 agrees with the tenth edition of the ' Systema Naturae ; ' and after a 

 most careful inspection of it, I consider it identical with the A. floralis 

 of Kirby ; the head has black hairs on the vertex, the abdomen has 

 indistinct dark bands, and the corbicula on the posterior tibia is black. 

 The Linnean specimen is not one changed in colour by age, nor are 

 the wings in the slightest degree lacerated at the margin. The speci- 

 mens in Mr. Kirby's cabinet ticketed floralis, exactly agree with the 

 Linnean insect; whereas those ticketed muscorum do not: I strongly 



