IIYMENOPTERA. 
137 
on the Leaf-cutting Bees ( Megachilidoe ), whose opera¬ 
tions I have recently been witnessing. These bees bite 
off portions of rose leaves from the edges, of an oblong 
shape, and about half-an-inch long and a little more 
than one quarter-of-an-inch broad ; each green piece of 
wild-rose leaf, when cut off, is carried by the bee’s hind¬ 
legs into the hole of a sandbank where she is forming 
her nest; after depositing this, she comes out of the 
hole and flies rapidly off, returning again after the 
interval of a few minutes with another bit of wild-rose 
leaf of precisely the same pattern as the last; this she 
conveys into the hole, where she remains for a few 
minutes and then again appears and repeats the opera¬ 
tion. I watched one of these Leaf-cutters for about an 
hour one warm day in the month of June, and then 
left without having disturbed her. I returned to the 
same spot four days afterwards, and as I could see 
nothing of them, I concluded the cells were completed 
and the bee’s labours terminated. Oil examining the 
hole I found two green thimble-shaped objects formed 
of leaves. One I opened and examined ; the other lies 
before me as I write. The leaves forming the length of 
the cell are oblong; there are four or five layers of 
them, forming a cylindrical tube ; the open end of this 
tube is, of course, circular, and the bee here has seen 
that to close a circular opening a circular door is neces¬ 
sary, and has accordingly altered her pattern from the 
oblong to the circular, and has cut out three or four 
perfectly circular bits of rose leaf, with which she has 
■closed the opening! What marvellous intelligence! 
The inside of the cell is full of a dark yellow paste, 
a conserve of pollen and honey, and at the end is a 
