The Leaf-cutters 



box. What magnificent disks ought to come 

 from the hare's-ear and the honeysuckle ! One 

 could get an excellent piece, without further 

 labour, by merely cutting the leaf-stalk of the 

 box as Megachile serkaus does with her 

 paliurus. The lilac-lover disdains them ab- 

 solutely. For what reason? I fancy that she 

 finds them too stiff. Would she think dif- 

 ferently if the lilac-bush were not there? Per- 

 haps so. 



In short, apart from the questions of tex- 

 ture and proximity to the nest, the Mega- 

 chile's choice, it seems to me, must depend 

 upon whether a particular shrub is plentiful 

 or not. This would explain the lavish use of 

 the vine, an object of widespread cultivation, 

 and of the hawthorn and the wild briar, 

 which form part of all our hedges. As these 

 are to be found everywhere, the fact that the 

 different Leaf-cutters make use of them is no 

 reflection upon a host of equivalents varying 

 according to the locality. 



If we had to believe what people tell us 

 about the effects of heredity, which is said to 

 hand down from generation to generation, 

 ever more firmly established, the individual 

 habits of those who come before, the Mega- 



365 



