HYMENOPTERA 



999 



Family MEGACHILID^ 



The Leaf -cutter Bees and their Allies 



To this family belong those bees in which the pollen brush of the 

 female is borne on the ventral side of the abdomen and the parasitic 

 bees that are allied to them. In this family the tongue is long and 

 there are only two submarginal cells of approximately equal size in 

 the fore wings. Among the better-known representatives of the 

 family are the following. 



The leaf -cutter bees, Megachlle. — The bees of the genus Megachile 

 have a curious habit of making cells for their young out of neatly-cut 

 pieces of leaves. These cells are packed away in such secure places 

 that one does not often find them ; but it is a very easy thing to find 



., / % M 



Fig. 1224. — A leaf-cutter bee, Megachila latimanus, its nest, and rose-leaves cut 

 by the bee. 



fragments of leaves from which the pieces have been cut by bees. 

 The leaves of various plants are used for this purpose, but rose-leaves 

 are used more frequently than any other kind. In Figure 1224 there 

 are represented one of these bees, its nest, and a spray of rose-leaves 

 from which pieces have been cut by the bee. 



The nests are made in various situations. The specimen figured 

 was taken from a piece of hemlock timber in which many of these bees 

 had bored tunnels to receive their cells. I have also found nests of 

 these bees in a tunnel in the ground under a stone, between shingles 



