Insects. 545 



suspect the names, by some accident, were reversed. The nests of 

 this and the following species are not always composed of moss, in 

 fact, most of those which I have discovered have been composed of 

 dried grass : they are by no means uncommon in hay-fields, particu- 

 larly if these are on hill-sides facing the south-west. The nests so 

 closely resemble those of field-mice, that I have sometimes thought it 

 possible that the bees had driven away the rightful owners, and taken 

 forcible possession, or vice versa, as I could never detect to which a 

 nest belonged, without disturbing the inmates. 



Sp. 2. BoMBUS MUSCORUM. 



A. muscomm, Linn. A.Jloralis, Kirby's Mon. 



This is a very variable species in all the sexes. The male varieties 

 include the A. Sowerbiana and A. Curtisella of Kirby ; the former 

 being a light-coloured variety, with indistinct black bands on the ab- 

 domen, and the latter having the abdomen nearly black, with a few 

 fulvous hairs at the apex : there are numerous intervening varieties. 

 A. Beckwithella and A. agrorum are varieties of the female, which 

 runs into the same shades of difference as the male ; the A. agrorum 

 having the abdomen black with the apex fulvous. A. Francillonella 

 and A. Fosterella are varieties of its neuter, the latter being of the 

 smallest size, in which the whole pubescence is griseous. I was con- 

 vinced of these being varieties of the same species, on taking a nest 

 in August, 1842. I captured not only the above varieties, but several 

 intervening ones, but they are all quite distinct from Bombus senilis. 



Sp. 3. Bombus fragrans. 

 A. fragrans, Kirby's Mon. 



I have never observed any variation in the colour of this insect, 

 excepting that it gets paler from age. I once discovered its nest, 

 composed of moss, in a meadow in Yorkshire ; it was too early in the 

 season to get all the sexes : the nest contained one female and four 

 or five neuters. Probably the communities are small, as the bee is 

 scarce. It may always be known from the other brown bees by the 

 black band on the thorax between the wings, which character is con- 

 stant in all the sexes.* 



* Mr. J. F. Stephens has figured and described a brown bee under the name of B. 

 cognatus, of which there are two specimens in his cabinet. They resemble B. musco- 

 rum, but the legs are piceous. Mr. Stephens received them from Bristol. I have not 

 enumerated them, as I do not know the particulars of their capture or their specific 

 differences, their general appearance is different to the rest of the brown bees. 



