308 LIFE STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



takes the pollen and spoils the flowers. Such 

 visitors are practically "thieves." 



Leaf-Cutting Bees. — Genus Mcgachile : These are 

 an interesting group, and they often cut their mater- 

 ial from the rose plants in the garden. They make 

 a series of thimble-shaped cells, of larger pieces of 

 the leaf for the sides of the cells, and shorter, 

 rounded pieces of the leaf for the ends. They store 

 *'bee-brea'd," and lay an ^gg in each cell, which is 

 then sealed up. They make their nests in crevices 

 in the trunks of trees, in deserted nests of carpenter 

 bees, or in the old burrows of grubs of wood-boring 

 beetles. Fabre thus describes the work bf 



making the nest= "She makes a strong barricade 

 composed of the only materials used in the "Leaf- 

 cutters' Guild." Fragrnents of leaves are piled up 

 in no particular order, but in sufficient quantities 

 as to make a serious obstacle to enemies from the 

 inner end of the nest. Immediately after the pro- 

 tective barrier comes a row of cells which vary 

 considerably in number. Strings of about a dozen 

 are rare, and the most frequent consist of five or 

 six. No less variation is shown in the number of 

 pieces formed to make a cell : pieces of two kinds, 

 some oval ones forming the "honey pot" : others 

 the round ones, forming the lid. Though all are 

 cut on the pattern of an ellipse, they are not equal 

 in dimensions and come under two categories. The 

 larger outside ones are each of them almost one- 

 third the circumference of the cell, and overlap one 

 another slightly. The lower end bends into a con- 

 cave curve to form the bottom of the bag. Those 



