248 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
black, and have some red hairs on the thorax, and a white down 
upon the head. A corresponding down ornaments the first three 
segments of the abdomen in the females, and all the segments 
of the male insect. 
The Megachile makes a perpendicular hole in tolerably solid 
earth, works it downwards for some inches, and then enlarges it 
into a horizontal gallery of considerable length. This is to be the 
future nest, and cells will be made in the side. There is nothing 
very extraordinary in this, for it is the procedure of most of the 
Sphegide, Crabronide, and the solitary bees, but something else is 
about to be done. The insect flies about the rose bushes, and 
finally selects a nice leaf, upon which it rests either above or below; 
it then cuts out a large piece with its mandibles, just as if it had 
been done by a pair of scissors. No time is lost, and the insect 
cuts quickly and soon detaches the piece of leaf, which does not 
fall, however, to the ground, heavy as it appears to be in relation 
to the small insect, for it is taken up between the legs and the 
mandibles, whilst the wings are strongly agitated, and the bee 
flies off with it to the nest. The A7egachile will thus cut ten or 
twelve pieces of leaf of different shapes, and will carry them to 
the bottom of its gallery, and there she twists the different pieces 
and folds one within the other, so as to form a sort of funnel- 
shaped cone, the end of whichis rather narrower than the orifice. 
The whole looks something like a long sleeve with folds upon it. 
The pieces of leaf are not sewn or attached to each other, but 
they are fitted together so perfectly that they retain their shape 
even when they become dry. This pretty funnel-shaped cell, of 
is destined to be the 
residence of a larva of the leaf cutter, for it proceeds to make 
from a quarter to a third of an inch long, 
up a cake of honey and pollen, places it inside, and then lays 
an egg. Nothing more is required but to wall up the nest, and 
the Megachile goes off to the rose bushes again, where it snips off 
a circular piece of leaf, of a diameter exactly fitting the opening ; 
it pushes this leaf so that its sides fit into the walls of the funnel- 
shaped roll of leaves which compose the lining of the cell, and 
endeavours to close it completely. But this intelligent little 
worker is not satisfied, for it would appear to be aware that 
the honey which she has laid up with the egg might flow out 
