550 Insects. 



under the name of Bremus regelationis. The yellow face will easily 

 separate this male from the same sex of the next species, B. Raiellus ; 

 it is also a larger insect. I have taken the sexes of lapidarius in co- 

 pula, It constructs its nest underground, in heaps of stones or rub- 

 bish. I once found one in a turf-heap on a common ; but the insect 

 was so persevering and formidable in its attacks, that I could not get 

 near enough to examine the contents of the nest. They attack much 

 in the same persevering manner as wasps, and follow to some distance, 

 buzzing and wheeling round the head of the disturber of their peace- 

 ful community. 



Sp. 15. Bombus Raiellus. 

 A. Raiellus, Kirby's Mon. 



The female and neuter of this species are similarly coloured to the 

 same sexes of lapidarius, but the corbicula on their posterior tibia is 

 fulvous, whilst in the former species it is black, it is also considerably 

 smaller. The male is variable in colour, but its black face separates 

 it from the male of lapidarius. The A. Derhamella of Kirby is one 

 of its varieties : its collar and scutellum are more or less fuscous, as 

 are also the two first segments of the abdomen ; the third is occupied 

 by a black band, and the remainder are of a tawny red. Specimens 

 thus coloured are such as have been long disclosed, in recently deve- 

 loped individuals the insect is blacker, and the red brighter. This 

 species is common, and especially so in the north of England: it con- 

 structs its nest of dried grass, moss, &c. In Yorkshire I have found 

 six or eight nests in a small hay-field ; its societies are not numerous. 



Sp. 16. Bombus Harrisellus. 

 A . Harrisellus, Kirby's Mon. 



This is the only black species of the genus : all the sexes are of the 

 same colour, but the male has some pale hairs intermixed at the tip 

 of the abdomen. I had some suspicion that this might be the subter- 

 ranea of Linnaeus, but the pubescence of Linnaeus' insect is coarser, 

 and Harrisellus wants the pale tip to the abdomen in the female. 



This species is not common. It is taken occasionally in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London : I have met with the female at Barnes, Surrey ; 

 and at Plumstead-wood, Kent, the males are frequently met with in 

 autumn : still the other sexes are rare. Mr. E. Doubleday informs 

 me that it is not so uncommon in the neighbourhood of Epping. 



Frederick Smith. 

 5, High-street, Newington Butts, April, 1844. 



