346 



HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



Fig. 257. 



a thousand such leaves with which to construct her cells. 

 The cell is filled with pollen and an egg is deposited on the 

 mass, before it is finally closed. 



Another species of Megachile {M. hrevis) in Canada, ac- 

 cording .to Mr. E. B^ Reed, cuts circular pieces from the 

 leaves of the plum tree, and also rolls up the leaves of the 

 tree as a covering for its nest. 



Mr. W. M. Davis, Jr., tells me that he has observed a 

 leaf cutter bee cutting pieces out of the 

 leaves of the sassafras, and during his 

 residence in Cordoba, South America, he 

 found several nests of a Megachile in a 

 bank, the cells of which were formed of 

 the 3ellow petals of a species of poppy. 

 In India, besides certain species of 

 Megachile which build cells of rose 

 leaves, one species {M. proxima) cuts 

 the leaves of the Clitoria creeper ; there 

 are others which form them of mud. 

 According to Messrs. Home and Smith 

 the MegacliUe Janata builds in different 

 objects within or about houses. Both 

 sexes appear to labor. The mud is car- 

 ried under the head and in part sup- 

 ported by the fore legs, and these authors 

 believe that "when the cla}-, having been 

 first prepared at the water, is brought 

 into use, it is inspissated with some glutinous substance 

 ejected by the insect. It is certainly very carefully kneaded 

 again by many of the clay-cell-builders." The Megachile 

 disjuncta has the same habits as the Woolly Megachile. 



A large proportion of the wild bees' nest in the ground 

 like the Andrena ; a few bees, like the cuckoo, live a parasi- 

 tic life in the cells of other bees. It is not well understood 

 what their young feed on, but it seems most probable that 



26 



CeUs of Leaf Cutter Bee. 



