This paper will conclude my descriptions of that division of British bees which have the tongue folded and elongate, and which constitute the genus Apis of Kirby. Having arrived at this stage in my de- scription of bees, I trust, that although it will doubtless hereafter be found that I have fallen into some errors, still that I have added some- thing to those materials, with which, united to further discoveries, some future hymenopterist will be enabled to construct a perfect his- tory of the bees of Great Britain. I could have wished that a more able and scientific entomologist had undertaken the task, but having found the investigation of the habits of the Hymenoptera a source of endless enjoyment, I felt that if I were merely to record such observa- tions as I had made upon the history and economy of these interesting creatures, I should be adding something to the general stock, and at the same time might be the means of inducing others to join in the investigation of this most interesting order of insects. Independent of the numerous instances in which I have been able to unite sexes to their legitimate partners, I have been able to add seventeen species to the British list, discovered, but none of them described since the pub- lication of Mr. Kirby's 'Monograph.'
Bombus flavo-nigrescens, Smith.
Female.—(Length 9–10 lines). Black. The labrum clothed with ferruginous hair. The thorax has a broad band in front, and the scutellum is also clothed with a rich yellow pubescence. Wings fuscous, darkest at their apical margins. The basal joint of the tarsi beneath has the pubescence ferruginous, the terminal joints are ferru- ginous, and the tips of the claws black. Abdomen clothed with a coarse, shaggy pubescence, a lateral patch of which, on the basal seg- ment, is yellow, and on the fourth and fifth it is of a dirty-white.
Neuter. — Similarly coloured to the female, the yellow bands being generally less bright; it is also subject to the same variety.
Male. — (Length 5 — 7 lines). Black ; the mandibles fringed with feiTUginous hairs ; the thorax has a broad band in front, and the scu- tellum yellow, a narrow yellow band at the base of the abdomen, fre- quently interrupted ; the four terminal segments white, the apical one black in the centre.
