450 Hcv : Humble Bees at West Ay ton ^ Yorks. 



var. HARRISELLUS Kirb. 

 A coal black form. Mr. Laycock took it at Hutton Buscel. 

 I took it in my garden, and on the Carrs. 



BoMBUS PRATORUM Linn. 



This gaily-banded bee was very abundant on raspberry 

 flowers, and on bramble flowers on Seamer moors. 



BoMBUS SYLVARUM Linn. 



This species is not plentiful, and we only took it at West 

 Ayton, on the slope of the hill where the ruined castle stands. 



BOMBUS SOROENSIS Fab. 



A rare species which is very plentiful at West Ayton. We 

 took a number on a large patch of Campanula glomerata in 

 my garden, and it abounded in the field paths that led from 

 East Ayton to Seamer moor. 



BoMBUS LAPiDARius Linn. 



This is the large red-tailed humble bee. The queens were 

 moderately plentiful on lupins in May. In August, the workers 

 and males swarmed on knapweed about Forge Valley. The 

 male is quite unlike the female or worker, and wears a broad 

 golden band on the thorax. 



BoMBUS TERRESTRis Linn. 



This is the Bumble-bee, par excellence, whose heavy, rather 

 awkward antics among the flowers are so entertaining. A very 

 common species wherever there are flowers. The darker 

 variety, virginalis Kirb, is equally common. 



PSITHYRUS RUPESTRIS Fab. 



Parasitic on Bomhus lapidarius, and similarly coloured. 

 We only took one female (at East Ayton), easily distinguished 

 by the black wings. The males were common near Seamer moor 

 on knapweed at the end of August. 



PsiTHYRUS VESTALIS FourC. 



We only met with this species in the Carrs, where it occurred 

 exclusively on the flowers of the Ragwort, in August. 



var. AMGENUS. 



This variety Mr. Saunders says he has never seen before, 

 and characterizes as a ' most interesting discovery.' We took 

 two specimens on the Carrs. It seems to be new to Britain. 



Naturalise. 



