THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 211 



of the bee, each containing a half-grown grub, comfortably ensconced, 

 with its modicum of food. I took some coils home, but only succeeded 

 in rearing two perfect insects, which Mr. C. V. Riley, of St. Louis, Mo., 

 kindly identified for me, as being Megachile brevis, Say, and which are 

 represented in fig. 38. 



My chief object in this communication is to call attention to the pecu- 

 liarity of the cells being constructed on the leaves of the tree, and not, as 

 is usually the case, in some post or fence-rail, or in a chamber excavated 

 in the ground. I am not aware that this has been noticed before. Each 

 coil contained probably four or five chambers. The three I took had 

 five, and I left others on the tree. The leaf, or outside wrapper, appeared 

 to be fastened with some kind of cement, while the interior portion was 

 contrived and planned in the manner usual to this little upholsterer, and 

 which has been so admirably explained and related by various Entomo- 

 logical writers. The genus Megachile consists usually of solitary bees, and 

 as far as I can gather, they construct but one nest. But in this case, it 

 would appear that more than one insect had attacked the tree. I saw no 

 bees in the immediate vicinity, nor could I detect traces of their work 

 on other trees. The tree stood quite remote from any rose bush, or in 

 fact from any tree having the usual form of serrated leaves, which leaf- 

 cutting bees generally select. The coils appeared to be all finished, and 

 apparently of about the same date of construction. In those I examined, 

 there was not much difference in the age of the larvae. 



INSECTS OF THE NORTHERN PARTS OF BRITISH AMERICA. 



COMPILED BY THE EDITOR. 



From Kirby's Fauna Boreali-A?nericana : Insect a. 



(Continued from page 192.) 



Genus Dichelonycha Harris. — Labrum transverse, lanceolate, scarcely 

 emarginate. Mandibles short, trigonal, incurved, toothless, acute : molary 

 space transverse, furrowed. Maxillae minute, linear, bidentate, with short 

 teeth. Labium subquadrangular, not distinct from the mentum. Palpi 

 maxillary four-jointed; first joint very minute; second longer than the 

 third, obconical ; third triangular ; last joint as long as the three others 

 together, very large, subsecuriform. Palpi labial three-jointed ; joints 

 short, subfiliform ; last truncated. Antennae nine-jointed ; scape obconi- 



