The Leaf-cutters 



taste of the aforesaid for the lilac and the 

 rose, but her domain includes in addition the 

 pomegranate-tree, the bramble, the vine, the 

 common dogwood and the cornelian cherry. 



The White-girdled Leaf-cutter likes the ro- 

 binia, to which she adds, in lavish propor- 

 tions, the vine, the rose and the hawthorn and 

 sometimes, in moderation, the reed and the 

 whitish-leaved rock-rose. 



The Black-tipped Leaf-cutter {Megachile 

 apicalis, Spixola) has for her abode the cells 

 of the Mason-bee of the Pebbles and the 

 ruined nests of the Osmiae and the Anthidia 

 in the Snail-shells. I have not known her to 

 use any other materials than the wild briar 

 and the hawthorn. 



Incomplete though it be, this list tells us 

 that the Megachiles do not have exclusive bo- 

 tanical tastes. Each species manages ex- 

 tremely well with several plants differing 

 greatly in appearance. The first condition to 

 be fulfilled by the shrub exploited is that it be 

 near the nest. Frugal of her time, the Leaf- 

 cutter declines to go on distant expeditions. 

 Whenever T come upon a recent Megachile- 

 nest, I am not long in finding in the neigh- 

 bourhood, without much searching, the tree 



263 



