J I is caiiu'llins, now also in Mr. Feast's control, ore Feast's Perfection, quite a 

 rciiiiirkalilc Howlt, distinct IVoni any ulhcr in color, and attracts all eyes, in col- 

 lections however lurjie. 



Triumph of Jia/tii/iure is a vcrystronj^ grower; large foliage, enormous flower, 

 inil)ri('ated; color like tricolor, l)ut not so coarse, and very attractive. 



JA/ry Kurtz is also a good one ; fine foliage, free bloomer, line-sliapcd flower, 

 white ground, strijied with rose; raised hy Edward Kurtz, an amateur of merit. 



The owners of these valuable articles, 



Samuel Feast 8^ Sons, have been long and favorably known nurserymen and 

 tenants of Dr. Edraondson. They have a very large nursery, a great variety of 

 camellias, including some new and desirable kinds. Their prairie roses are too 

 well known to be more than alluded to. Mr. S. Feast has been engaged, for some 

 time, in planting orchards of jjcar, peach, and apple, for the supply of the Balti- 

 more market, and if intelligence is any passport to success, he will soon show 

 what may be done. 



Jvhn Feast has a town greenhouse and garden, filled with the rarest and most 

 beautiful flowers, and does a large business, supi)lying plants, bouquets, kc. kc. 



Peutland ^ Brother are also largely engaged in the flower business, and have 

 advertised, lately, some new roses, which promise well. 



Baltimore may hereafter supply additional notes; at present, we reluctantly 

 leave this most hospitable region. 



THE LEAF-CUTTIXG BEE. 



BY J. STAUFFER, MOUNT JOY, PA. 



Toe genus Megachile (comprising the leaf-cutting and some other bees) has 

 long attracted the attention of the curious; and so early as 1670, it was noticed 

 by May, Willughby, Lister, and others. 



Mr. Kirby has given the history of these bees at great length in his Monograph, 

 together with lleaumur's account; yet I have never met with a description of our 

 native species. T. W. Harris, among his hymenopterous insects (page 371), 

 barely mentions "the skill of the leaf-cutter bee in cutting out the semicircular 

 pieces of leaves for her patchwork nest." True, there may be other accounts 

 which have not come to my notice. I offer the following observations (made by 

 myself), which may be of interest to some, and new to others : — 



On the 3d of last September, I found a series of compact rolls of fresh green 

 leaves from the rose or sweetbrier, neatly fitted into the channel made (as I suppose) 

 by some larvae of a coleopterous insect. These rolls were about three-fourths of 

 an inch long, and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, Fig. 8, cora[)osed of layer 



upon layer, accurately adjusted 

 with a double top and triple bottom 

 of circular pieces, as tight as a 

 cartridge without cement, appa- 

 rently. One opened contained 

 about six small, white, oblong eggs, 

 immersed in an orange-colored 

 jelly-like substance (pollen and 

 honey necessary for the food of 

 the larvic). November 24, 1 opened 

 other, and found the larva, Fig. 10 (half the size of fig.). The perfect insect 

 ' ?), Fig. 1, came forth May the 26th. I took accurate drawings of the | 



