176 MESSES. C. HOENE AND P. SMITH ON HYMENOPTEEA 



Megachile lanata, Fabr. (Plate XIX. figs. 11, 11 a, & 11 b.) 



This insect is found in almost every house in the North-west Provinces, and, next to 

 the black and yellow Pelopceus {madraspatanm), is the one which attracts most notice. 



The season in which it builds its cells is from March to November; but July and 

 August {i.e. during the rainy season) are its favourite months. These cells are placed 

 in every conceivable situation ; and it is curious, when sitting quietly writing, to watch 

 the insect coming and going with his material. He or she is so deeply interested in 

 the work that all fear is forgotten, and they will work within a foot of your writing- 

 desk. The mud is carried, so to speak, under the head and in part supported by the 

 fore legs, and is not so finely worked up as that of the Pelopceus ; hence we find the 

 work much rougher exteriorly, although the inside of the cell is carefully smoothed. 

 I have had a newspaper lying on the table and heard them working inside the folds ; 

 in short there is no position too strange for the nest. 



The following are a few of the positions in which I have found them : — 



1. Between folds of paper; 2. in the back pf a book which had been left lying open ; 

 3. on the handle of a tea-cup ; 4. in the keyhole of a door ; 5. in the barrel of a gun ; 

 6. under a fan on the table; 7. in the hollow of a bolt of a window, where three times 

 the whole structure was crushed by the use of the said bolt in the absence of the 

 insect; 8. on a signet ring from which the stone had fallen out; 9. on the frill of a large 

 fan or punka, which was kept in motion ten or twelve hours out of the twenty-four. 



I will now proceed with the method of working. Both sexes appear to labour ; for I 

 have sometimes caught a worker, and found that the work was immediately continued, 

 which was not the case with the Pelopceus. They come and go incessantly, with a loud 

 buzzing ; and whilst they are tempering the clay they keep up the motion, thereby 

 advertising the locality where they are working, although often the exact spot is even 

 then difficult to find. The tenacity with which the clay adheres to substances is very 

 curious (although the cells of the insects of the genus Rhynchium afibrd a better 

 instance) ; and I believe that when the clay, having been first prepared at the water, is 

 brought into use, it is inspissated with some glutinous substance ejected by the insect. 

 It is certainly very carefully kneaded again by many of the clay-cell-builders. The 

 cells are built side by side, with very little cohesion, and are stocked with bee-bread 

 and closed by three or four pellets of mud, united in such a manner as to leave thin 

 edges next to the lips or upper edges, and thus enable the insect easily to escape. The 

 outside is in general rough and adapted to the situation in which it is built. It is 

 scarcely ever truly circular on the outside, even if built free from obstruction. 



Amongst the figures will be observed a solitary cell built in a signet-ring. The 

 power of instinct shown here is very great; for to keep the cell secure the clay has been 

 made larger at the base, where it projects interiorly in the ring. 



This insect is very annoying from the manner it chokes up small openings, such as 

 barrels of firearms and locks of drawers, in the latter case entering by the keyhole. 



