HYMENOPTERA. 137 



on the Leaf-cutting Bees {Megachilidoa), whose opera- 

 tions I have recently been witnessing. These bees bite 

 off portions of rose leaves from the edges, of an oblong 

 shape, and about half-an-inch long and a little more 

 than one quarter-of-an-inch broad ; each green piece of 

 wild-rose leaf, when cut off, is carried by the bee's hind- 

 legs into the hole of a sandbank where she is forming 

 her nest ; after depositing this, she comes out of the 

 hole and flies rapidly off, returning again after the 

 interval of a few minutes with another bit of wild-rose 

 leaf of precisely the same pattern as the last ; this she 

 conveys into the hole, where she remains for a few 

 minutes and then again appears and repeats the opera- 

 tion. I watched one of these L.^af-cutters for about an 

 hour one warm day in th^ mouth of June, and then 

 left without having disturbed her. I returned to the 

 same spot four days afterwards, and as I could see 

 nothing of them, I concluded the cells were completed 

 and the bee's labours terminated. On examining the 

 hole I found two green thimble-shaped objects formed 

 of leaves. One I opened and examined ; the other lies 

 before me as I write. The leaves forming the length of 

 the cell are oblong ; there are four or five layers of 

 them, forming a cylindrical tube ; the open end of this 

 tube is, of course, circular, and the bee here has seen 

 that to close a circular opening a circular door is neces- 

 sary, and has accordingly altered her pattern from the 

 oblong to the circular, and has cut out three or four 

 perfectly circular bits of rose leaf, with which she has 

 closed the opening 1 What marvellous intelligence ! 

 The inside of the cell is full of a dark yellow paste, 

 a conserve of pollen and honey, and at the end is a 



