Hymenoptera Collected Near Boston, Mass., with Descriptions of a Variety of Bombus affinis

While collecting Hymenoptera at Forest Hills, Mass., and other localities in the vicinity of Boston, I have taken on two occasions a bumble-bee, which from its aberrant coloration could not be properly named with Franklin\u27s Bombidae of the New World. I have been permitted to examine similarly colored Bombus, taken some years previous by Professor Wheeler at Forest Hills and by Mr. J. E. Smith at Sherborn, Mass. It was finally recognized that all these specimens belong to a striking color-variant of Bombus affinis, which it is the purpose of this note to describe and name. I have used this opportunity to present an account of the Bombidae of the neighborhood of Boston and to record some other interesting Hymenoptera of that region