122 
Psyche 
[April 
NOTES ON THE NESTING HABITS OF SOME OF THE 
LESS COMMON NEW ENGLAND BUMBLE- 
BEES. 1 
By O. E. Plath, 
Department of Biology, Boston University. 
In the fall of 1922, I published a short paper (1922b) on the 
nesting habits of several of our North American bumblebees. 
The data recorded were obtained from the study of about 50 
nests, most of which were taken in the vicinity of Boston during 
the summers of 1921 and 1922. Since that time, this number has 
been increased to over 250 nests, of which more than 200 were 
examined. Several of these nests belonged to some of our less 
common New England species, about whose nesting habits— in 
most cases — comparatively little is known. Among the data 
presented in the following pages I have included some observa- 
tions which Dr. Joseph Bequaert and Professor O. A. Stevens 
were kind enough to communicate to me. Unless otherwise 
stated, the nests referred to in this paper were taken within the 
city limits of Boston, either on, or near the grounds of the Arnold 
Arboretum, or the Bussey Institution. 
Terrestris Group. 
1. Bremus terricola Kirby. 
Practically nothing was known concerning the nesting habits 
of this species before the appearance of my first paper (1922 b) 
which contained data concerning two nests., one taken in the 
Arnold Arboretum, and the other at Washington, Me. Since 
then I have been so fortunate as to discover 16 additional nests 
of this species. One of these was found near the skeleton of a 
dead rat in a nest which had been built — possibly by this same 
rat — among some old straw in a box left in the basement of an 
abandoned greenhouse. The other fifteen were subterranean, 
and of these, eleven were dug up. These were situated from 6 to 
Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Insti- 
tution, Harvard University, No. 280. 
