Bramble-bees and Others 



The protective sheath, which is also a 

 framework, is not the work of the mother. 

 Like the great majority of the Osmise, the 

 Megachiles do not understand the art of 

 making themselves a home straight away: 

 they want a borrowed lodging, which may 

 vary considerably in character. The deserted 

 galleries of the Anthophorae, the burrows of 

 the fat Earth-worms, the tunnels bored in the 

 trunks of trees by the larva of the Ceram- 

 byx-beetle,^ the ruined dwellings of the 

 Mason-bee of the Pebbles, the Snail-shell 

 nests of the Three-horned Osmia, reed-stumps, 

 when these are handy, and crevices in the 

 walls are all so many homes for the Leaf- 

 cutters, who choose this or that establishment 

 according to the tastes of their particular 

 genus. 



For the sake of clearness, let us cease gen- 

 eralizing and direct our attention to a definite 

 species. I first selected the White-girdled 

 Leaf-cutter {Megachile albocincta, Perez), 

 not on account of any exceptional peculiari- 

 ties, but solely because this is the Bee most 

 often mentioned in my notes. Her customary 



^The Capricorn, the essay on whom has not yet been 

 published in English. — Translator's Note. 



242 



