406 TENANTS OF AN OLD FAR3I. 



" Really, Al^by," smilingly remarked Aunt Hannah, 

 "I think that we must admit that Friend Mayfield is 

 right, and receive his insect friends into our worthy 

 guild of spinsters, tailors and seamstresses. For one, I 

 am better content with their association than I would 

 have been before I was favored with a place at these 

 Conversations." 



" Thank 3'ou, Aunt Hannah. And now I shall pre- 

 sent for the honor of membership a new candidate, the 

 Leaf-cutter Bee {2Iegachile cenUincuIaris). You have 

 better reason for denying her claims to place among the 

 tailor insects than the others ; but on the strength of 

 the importance which I know the cutting department 

 to have in all sewing operations, I venture to include 

 her within this group." 



"Oh, we will all vote to admit her !" exclaimed the 

 Mistress. " Bees are such genteel insects, and so in- 

 teresting withal, that any member of such a ' highly 

 respectable family ' — to quote a favorite Philadelphia 

 phrase — shall not go a-begging for a seat among the 

 seamstresses. By all means, let us have the leaf-cutter 

 bee." 



" "Well, then, here she is — a thick-bodied insect with 

 a large square head armed with stout jaws. She is not 

 provided with a pollen-basket like the honey and hum- 

 ble bees, but Nature has placed a thick mass of dense 

 hair on the under side of the apex of the abdomen or 

 tail, which she uses for the same purpose. 



We have two or three species connnon to the Eastern 

 United States [Mcgachih ccnHincaJans, M. integrr, M. 



