186 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



the final dimensions. Its denticulations swell into deli- 

 cate glandular pads, whence oozes a little of the viscous 

 matter that tars the buds at the moment when their 

 bracts become disjoined. 



A word now on the equipment in respect of tools. 

 The legs are supplied with double claws shaped like the 

 meat-hooks of a steel-yard. The lower side of the tarsi 

 carries a thick tuft of white bristles. Thus shod, the 

 insect clambers very nimbly up the most slippery 

 vertical walls ; it can stand and run like a fly, with 

 its back downwards, on the ceiling of a glass bell. 

 This characteristic alone is enough to suggest the 

 subtle sense of equilibrium which the Weevil's work will 

 demand. 



The curved and powerful beak or rostrum, without 

 being exaggerated in size, spreads at the tip into a spatula 

 ending in a pair of fine, shear-like mandibles. It makes 

 an excellent bodkin, which plays the first or leading part 

 in the whole work. The leaf, in fact, cannot be rolled 

 in its actual condition. It is a live blade which, owmg 

 to the afflux of the sap and the tonicity of the tissues, 

 would resume its flat formation in proportion as the 

 insect endeavoured to curve it. The dwarf insect has 

 not the strength to master a piece of these dimensions, 

 to roll it up so long as it retains the elasticity of life. 

 This is evident to our eyes ; it is evident also to the eyes 

 of the Weevil. 



How is she to obtain the degree of inert suppleness 

 required in the circumstances ? We ourselves would 

 say: 



"We must pluck the leaf, let it fall to the earth, 

 and manipulate it on the ground when it is rightly 

 withered." 



