VESPIM. 
219 
Megachile includes the very familiar bee.that builds mud cells in our 
houses in any tubular cavity that offers itself. The work of the leaf-cut- 
Fig. 122.— Cells of megachile lanata, x 1. 
ting species is well known, though we doubt if many people have seen 
these insects at work. M. anthracina , Sm., is the common leaf-cutting 
bee of the plains, which cuts neat pieces out of the stiff leaves of rose, 
Bauhinia and pigeon pea. These it takes away to line its cells, which it 
fills with pollen paste. We figure the cells of these species found in a 
tree. (Plate XII.) A point of interest in this species is that it is found 
as an imago only after the rains, i.e. } October and November. In capti¬ 
vity the larvae rested from December to September in the cell. This is 
the case in Behar, but it may not be true of all India. M. disjuncta, 
Fabr., is also common and makes mud cells filled with paste. It has the 
base of the abdomen covered with whitish pubescence. The commonest 
species is M. lanata , Fabr., with base of the abdomen red-brown ; this 
builds the mud cells (Fig. 122) in houses and also, as doesdf. disjuncta , in 
soil. In the former case, a mud cell is made, in the latter case, a casing 
of leaves is applied to the sides of the burrow direct. It is common both 
in the dry hot weather and after the rains. M. conjuncta, Sm., makes 
its leaf cells in a hollow bamboo. Megachile lanata is attacked by 
mites, which fix themselves to the larval integument and draw in fluid 
so that their abdomen becomes immensely dilated after the manner of 
the ‘ honey pot ’ ants (Myrmecocystus). 
