The genus Megachile (comprising the leaf-catting and some other bees) has long attracted the attention of the curious; and so early as 1G70, it was noticed by Ray, Willughby, Lister, and others.

Mr. Kirby has given the history of these bees at great length in his Monograph, together with Reaumur's account; yet I have never met with a description of oar native species. T. W. Harris, among his hymenopteroas insects (page 371), barely mentions " the skill of the leaf-cutter bee in-cutting out the semicircular pieces of leaves for her patchwork nest" True, there may be other accounts which have not come to my notice. I offer the following observations (made by myself), which may be of interest to some, and new to others: -

On the 3d of last September, I found a series of compact rolls of fresh green leaves from the rose or sweetbrier, neatly fitted into the channel made (as I suppose) by some larvae of a coleopterous insect. These rolls were aboot three-fourths of an inch long, and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, Fig. 8, composed of layer upon layer, accarately adjusted with a double top and triple bottom of circular pieces, as tight as a cartridge without cement, apparently. One opened contained about six small, white, oblong eggs, immersed in an orange-colored jelly-like substance (pollen and honey necessary for the food of the lame). November 24,1 opened another, and found the larva, Fig. 10 (half the size of fig.). The perfect insect (male?), Fig. 1, came forth May the 26th. I took accurate drawings of the varioos stages, bat regret that my woodcut is not equal to my wishes; bat it may suffice, as I am not a professed " wood-cutter".

The insect is about half an inch long, of a black color. The face, Fig. 9, is densely clothed with yellowish hairs; the Antennas clavate, with the apical segment subcompressed; the cheeks, underside and margin of the thorax, and anterior segment of the abdomen, sparsely clothed with yellowish hairs. The tibia are black, with a few hairs near the body, except the anterior pair, Fig. 3, which are densely clothed with long, ochrous hairs. Fig. 5, the spurred hind-leg; the tarsi are covered with short black hairs. Fig. 7, the two jaws - one apparently one-toothed, cutting edge slightly curved. Fig. 6 is the tongue; its external sheath, and the maxillary and labial palpi, separated. Fig. 4, the anterior wing, with its cells.

This species may be known to those familiar with the insect. I will not venture to name it, but shall be truly obliged to any one who will inform me of its specific name. I will append a portion from Kirby and Spence's Entomology, by way of conclusion.

"The process which one of these bees employs in cutting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest, is worthy of attention. Nothing can be more expeditious; she is not longer about it than we should be with a pair of scissors. After hovering for some moments over a rose-bush, as if to reconnoitre the ground, the bee alights upon the leaf she has selected, usually taking her station upon its edge, so that the margin passes between her legs. With her strong mandibles, she cuts without intermission in a curve line, so as to detach a triangular portion. When this hangs by the last fibre, lest its weight should carry her to the ground, she balances her little wings for flight, and the very moment it parts from the leaf, flies off with it in triumph, the detached portion remaining bent between her legs in a direction perpendicular to her body. Thus, without rule or compasses, do these diminutive cieatures mete out the. materials of their work into portions of an ellipse, into ovals or circles, accurately accommodating the dimensions of the several pieces of each figure to each other.

What other architect could carry impressed upon the tablet of his memory the entire idea of the edifice which he has to erect? and, destitute of square and plumb-line, cut out his materials in their exact dimensions, without making a single mistake? Yet this is what our little bee invariably does. So far are human art and reason excelled by the teachings of the Almighty".