192 
NATURE NOTES 
marked degree. Shortly after a second bite resistance ceased ; and the victor 
settled down to suck the juices of its fallen prey. The struggles lasted quite an 
hour. This small spider dragged, with apparent ease, from the middle of the 
window pane to the mouth of its den, an insect ten times its own size. The 
poison of a spider paralyses, but does not kill. Next morning the fly was alive, 
and the spider was still sucking out its life blood. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
418. — Leaf-Cutting Bees. —The Bee mentioned by your correspondent 
belongs to the family of Upholsterer bees — Megachile centuncularis. This 
summer having been unusually warm, has caused these and, indeed, many other 
species of insects, to have been more common than for many years past. Although 
the leaf of the rose seems to be most preferred — hence its common name of the 
“ Rose-cutter” — yet leaves of beech, Lirch, pear, apple, and others with smooth 
surfaces and serrated edges, are also chosen by these bees in the construction of 
their dwellings. It is interesting to watch this industrious little bee working 
away during a hot summer’s day. Settling upon the edge of the leaf she com- 
mences with her mandibles to cut out with the greatest accuracy and neatness a 
circular piece, even with more quickness than it takes to explain. When the 
piece of leaf is nearly cut through, and so as to prevent any accident which might 
injure the shape of the leaf, she poises — like a humming-bird over a flower — and 
so completes the incision. With the piece cut out, she flies straight away to 
her nest, a cylindrical hole she has made, or appropriated, in the cavity of a 
stump of a tree, or post — I have found the nest in an old stone wall. Then, with- 
out gum or any sticking solution whatever, she folds one piece over the other, 
until the leaf tapestry is built up of layers to about an inch. On this she lays an 
egg, and then, diligently pursuing her work with the most perfect mathematical 
skill, goes on to build another course, repeating the same process, laying an egg 
at equal distances until the number of courses are all completed. 
41, Heath Street , Hampstead , H. IV., J. E. W. 
September 8, 1906. 
419. Lena Shaw will probably have observed that the pieces cut from the 
leaves are roughly of two distinct shapes, circular and oblong. The bee uses 
them to line a tunnel, which she has found or made in a dry stick, the oblong 
ones forming the sides of the cells she makes, and the circular ones the divisions 
between them. In each cell is placed one egg and the necessary food for the 
young grub (larva) to feed on when it is hatched. This food is just sufficient to 
last it till it becomes a pupa. It is one of the most remarkable facts in nature 
that the last cell made always produces its bee first, then the next, and so on, 
thus making the way clear for the first one’s occupant, far inside the stick, to 
escape. The name of the bee is probably Megachile centuncularis, but there are 
several species of leaf-cutting bees, and they all cut the leaves themselves, roses 
being the plants more especially favoured. 
Hale End, Chingford. C. Nicholson. 
420. In reference to the question asked by “ Lena Shaw ” in the September 
No. of Nature Notes, I have frequently observed the procedure of Leaf-cutter 
Bees in my own garden to be as follows : The bee settles upon the margin of the 
selected leaf and rests with three feet on the upper and three on the under side, 
and then turning its body from left to right cuts out as large a portion of the circle 
as it can reach forward to describe, falling when the cut is completed with the 
detached piece of leaf still grasped between its feet, but without touching the 
ground if the intervening distance is sufficient to enable it to recover its balance, 
in which case it flies away direct to its nest. If it touches the ground, the piece 
of leaf generally has to be dropped for a moment and re-adjusted in position for 
carrying away. Two species of bee have been specially noticed, one of which 
cuts the green leaves of rose trees, whilst the other takes portions of the petals of 
scarlet pelargoniums. 
Ealing, IV. R. T. Lewis. 
421. Peacock Butterflies.— I have often noticed the clicking noise pro- 
duced by these butterflies, and, as it seems to be heard only when they are fanning 
