The leaf-cutter bee is one of the large bees of the genus
Megachile, of which a common species in the United States is
M. cetuncularis. It is a thick-bodied bee with a large square head, stout scissors-like jaws and with thick mass of dense hairs on the under side of the tail for the purpose of carrying pollen. The leaf-cutter bees make their nests in the hollow stems of elder-bushes, or, nowadays, often in crevices about buildings, and form their cells of round pieces which they cut out of tender leaves of any sorts of trees and bushes, especially the rose. Many cells are made, each containing an egg and store of pollen, and the whole economy of the group is very interesting. There are any species of leaf-cutter bees in various parts of the world.
