BY THE WAYSIDE. 
47 
\ 
iie cell lias been completed the leaf-cutter 
isits different kinds of flowers, in search of 
oney and pollen. The pollen is stored away 
a the cell, mixed with honey, and this mixture 
erves as food for the future bee-larva. In this 
Vay the cell is partly filled up, an egg is placed 
.n the top of the food supply, and the bee 
tarts out anew for the rose-bushes. This 
ime she returns with a round piece of a leaf, 
/ive or six of these are placed on top of each 
>ther, and form the lid which closes the open- 
ng of the cell very tightly. A second cell is 
ffided to the first and in this manner a straight 
•ow of several cells is formed. If there 
>e sufficient room an additional row of cells is 
onstructed, and occasionally several rows are 
ound. In one instance the number of cells in 
i single nest amounted to thirty, and the num¬ 
ber of leaf fragments used was estimated at 
nearly one thousand. And then it must be 
;aken into consideration that this respectable 
\lumber of cells had to be supplied with pollen 
jind honey. This represents an enormous 
■amount of work on the part of a single in¬ 
dividual, and we can easily understand that 
"the building of the nest as near as possible 
J to the plants visited by the bee is of great 
importance to the latter as a time and labor 
saving factor. 
Magachile is not always fortunate in the 
selection of the place where she builds a home 
for her offspring. One forenoon in the middle 
of last July, at one of our summer-resorts, 
a number of ladies were greatly excited over the 
repeated appearance of a leaf-cutter bee in 
their midst. The ladies were sitting near a 
table on the porch. There was a pile of old 
newspapers on the table, and the bee in ques¬ 
tion had discovered a space between the folds 
of a newspaper which she deemed fit for her 
purposes. Accordingly she went to woik, and 
came flying in every few minutes, holding her 
leaf between her legs. Every time she was 
greeted with the words “there’s that nasty 
wasp again,” whereupon a general and hasty 
retreat on the part of the ladies followed. The 
nest was broken up, and was found to be in the 
initial stage, consisting of eight or nine leaf- 
fragments only. In this manner quiet was 
restored among the female population of the 
i resort, and fortunately nobody had come to 
grief, except the poor leaf-cutter, who had 
worked industriously for nothing, and was 
obliged to start out in search of a more suitable 
spot for her nest. 
Last year in the month of September, a nest 
of a leaf-cutter was found near Wliitefish Bay 
in an old partially decayed branch of a birch, 
which had been tossed up on the beach of Lake 
Michigan by the waves. The branch was dry, 
and was lying on that part of the beach which 
is usually not reached by the waves of the 
summer months, but is certainly washed by 
the severe storms of winter and spring. This 
too was a rather dangerous place for a bee’s 
nest, for although the thick, waterproof cocoon 
of Megachile is able to withstand the effects 
of wet surroundings to a great extent, it is 
more than probable that it would have been 
crushed between the masses of ice that are 
thrown upon the beach in the course of winter: 
Undoubtedly the greatest danger that threat¬ 
ens the existence of the leaf-cutter bees comes 
from the activity of several parasites. A 
parasitic bee Coelioxys, is unable to build and 
supply a nest of her own, and is therefore in 
the same position as the cow-bird or the 
European cuckoo among the birds. This bee 
enters the nest of the leaf-cutter during the 
absence of the latter, and deposits an egg in 
the pollen-mass, which has been stored away 
for the future leaf-cutter. The larva of 
Megachile is killed by the larva of the intruder 
and the latter makes himself at home and 
grows fat on the ample supply of food in the 
nest. Quite different is the method employed 
by a tiny parasite belonging to the family of 
Chalcis-flies. It lays numerous eggs on tne 
body of the leaf-cutter larva, and the young 
parasites develop inside of the body of their 
victim. When the time comes for the leaf- 
cutter bee to emerge from its nest, numbers of 
of these parasites make their appearance 
through a small opening on the side of the 
cocoon. This parasite has been named Melit- 
tobia magacliilis. It furnishes an example of 
a very small insect with a big name. S. G. 
A fairy’s broken wing, 
How piteous a thing! 
Quick Devil’s-needle mend it, 
And elfin nurses tend it, 
With tiniest fingers bathe with dew, 
And cobweb bandages renew; 
And all its filmy strength restore, 
To skim the wide blue air once more. 
—From St. Nicholas. 
