H YMEN OP TERA . 667 
than the mentum (Fig. 795) ; the basal segments of the 
labial palpi are also elongate. 
A remarkable difference in habits exists 
among the different species of this family : 
some are solitary; others are inquilines; 
and a few are social. Among the solitary 
species we find an even greater variation in 
the form of the nest than we found among 
the solitary wasps or among the digger- 
wasps. Some of these bees are miners, 
digging tunnels in the ground; some are 
masons, making their nests out of mortar¬ 
like mud; some are carpenters, boring 
tunnels in the pith of plants or in solid 
wood; and some are leaf-cutters, lining 
their nests with pieces of leaves or of petals 
of flowers. We have space to describe the 
habits of only a few of these. 
I. THE SOLITARY LONG-TONGUED BEES. 
The Leaf-cutter Bees, Megachile (Meg- 
a-chi'le).—The bees of the genus Megachile &lossa - 
have the curious habit of making cells for their young out 
of neatly-cut pieces of leaves. These cells are packed away 
in such secure places that one does not often find them ; 
but it is a very easy thing to find fragments of leaves from 
which the pieces have been cut by bees. The leaves of 
various plants are used for this purpose, but rose-leaves are 
used more frequently than any other kind. In Figure 
796 there are represented one of these bees, its nest, and 
a spray of rose-leaves from which pieces have been cut by 
the bee. 
The species represented here, Megachile acuta (M. a-cu'ta), 
is a carpenter as well as a leaf-cutter. It first makes a tun¬ 
nel in wood, often selecting that which is partially decayed ; 
then it proceeds to build a thimble-shaped tube at the bot- 
