THE ROSE-CUTTER BEE. 
107 
guish the insect. A practised eye, however, looks out for the 
antennae, and is*at once attracted by their waving grace. 
The larva of the Musk Beetle is a mighty borer, making holes 
into which an ordinary drawing-pencil could be passed. Old 
and decaying willow-trees are its favourite resort, and in some 
places the willows are positively riddled with the burrows. If 
such a tree be sawn open longitudinally, a curious scene is pre- 
sented to the spectator. In some spots, the interior is hollowed 
out by nearly parallel burrows, until it looks as if it had been 
tunnelled by the shipworm, while sections are made of burrows 
that turn suddenly aside, or gradually diverge towards the yet 
uneaten parts of the timber. In some of the holes will be found 
the long white grubs, in others the pupa may be seen lying 
quiescent, while a perfect beetle or two may possibly be dis- 
covered near the entrance of the holes. Nor are the Musk 
Beetles the only tenants of the tree, for there is generally an 
assemblage of woodlice, centipedes, and other dark-loving 
creatures, which have crawled into the deserted holes, and 
taken up their abode within the tree. 
We now come to the wood-boring bees, the name of which is 
legion, and a few examples of which will be now described. 
The first is the Rose-cutter Bee (. Megachile Willoughbiella ), 
or Willow Bee, as it is often called, because its burrows are 
so frequently made in decaying willow-trees. This species is 
very common in most parts of England, and is therefore a good 
example of the wood-boring bees. The method by which the 
nests are made is very curious. After the insect has bored a 
hole of suitable dimensions in some old tree, she sets oft' in 
search of materials for the cells, and mostly betakes herself to a 
rose-bush, or laburnum-tree. She then examines one leaf after 
another, and having fixed on one to her mind, she settles upon 
it, clinging to its edge with her feet, and then, using her feet as 
one leg of a pair of compasses, and her jaws as the other, she 
quickly cuts out a nearly semicircular piece of leaf. As she 
supports herself by clinging to the very piece of leaf which she 
cuts, she would fall to the ground, when the leaf was severed^ 
