188 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



death or merely a cessation of movement. The Rhyn- 

 chites requires for her young a leaf rendered flexible 

 ad hoc, half-alive, paralyzed in a fashion, a leaf that can 

 easily be shaped into a scroll ; she is wonderfully familiar 

 with the little leaf-stalk, the petiole, in which the vessels 

 that dispense the foliaceous energy are collected in a tiny 

 bundle ; and she inserts her driU there, there only and 

 never any elsewhere. Thus, at one blow, without much 

 trouble, she effects the ruin of the aqueduct. Where 

 can the beaked insect have learnt her astute trade as a 

 drier-up of wells ? 



The leaf of the poplar is an irregular rhombus, a spear- 

 head whose sides widen into pointed pinions. The 

 manufacture of the scroll begins with one of those two 

 lateral corners, the right or left indifferently. Notwith- 

 standing the hanging posture of the leaf, which makes 

 the upper or lower surface equally easy of access, the 

 insect never fails to take its position on the upper side. 

 It has its reasons, dictated by the laws of mechanics. 

 The upper surface of the piece, which is smoother and 

 more flexible, has to form the inside of the scroll ; the 

 lower surface, which has greater elasticity because of its 

 powerful veins, must occupy the outside. The statics of 

 the small-brained Weevil agree with those of the scientists. 



See her at work. She stands on the rolling-line, with 

 three of her legs on the part already rolled and the three 

 opposite on the part still free. Solidly fixed, on both 

 sides, with her claws and tufts, she obtains a purchase 

 with the legs on the one side, while making her effort with 

 the legs on the other. The two halves of the machine 

 alternate like motors, so that, at one time, the formed 

 cylinder rolls over the free blade and, at another, the 

 free blade moves and is laid upon the scroU already made. 



