be HYMENOPTERA. 155 
; sicula, Ross.—forms its nest into a ball and places it on the 
branches of plants. 
Others, Megachiles, called by Réaumur Zbeilles coupeuses de feu- 
wles, in the construction of their nests, employ perfectly oval or 
circular portions of leaves, which they cut out by means of their 
mandibles, with as much quickness as dexterity. These pieces are 
€ransported by them into straight and cylindrical holes, previously 
excavated in the ground, and sometimes in walls or the decayed 
trunk of an old tree. They line the bottom of the cavity with these 
leaves, and form a cell, shaped like a thimble, in which they deposit 
the honied provision on which the larva is to feed, and an egg; they 
then close the cell with a flat or slightly concave lid, also formed 
of a portion of a leaf. A second cell is subsequently formed above 
the first, that is followed by a third, and so on until the hole is filled. 
Of this number is the 
M. rose; Apis centuncularis, L.; Réaum., Insect., WI, x. 
‘About six lines in length; black, with a fulvous-grey down; 
small white and transverse spots on the superior sides of the 
abdomen; inferior surface of the latter covered with fulvous 
hairs. The male is described by Linnzus as another species, 
under the name of lagopoda. 
Other analogous species attack the leaves of the Oak, Elm, 
&c., for a similar purpose(1). 
Liruurcus, Lat. 
Where there are four joints in the maxillary palpi, as in the fol- 
lowing subgenus, but the abdomen is depressed superiorly. All the 
joints of the labial palpi are placed end to end(2), and the palpi 
themselves resemble long squamous setz, terminating inapoint. The 
mandibles are narrow in both sexes, and their extremity is emargi- 
nated in the middle or bidentated. The females have a rounded 
projection’in the middle of their head(3). 
Osmia, Panz.—<Anthophora, Fab.—Tyrachusa, Jur. 
Where the maxillary palpi are formed of four joints, or at least 
(1) Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., LV, 165. 
(2) The third joint is usually inserted on the outer side of the second, anterior 
to its point, and with the second forms a little oblique and lateral stem. 
(3) Centris cornuta, Fab., and an undescribed species from the Isle of France. 
