The Poplar-Weevil 



which is more exposed than the rest, and 

 then, without letting go, makes her way back- 

 wards to the other end, always with patient 

 deliberation. In this manner, an added 

 firmness is imparted to the new fold; and 

 the next fold is prepared. At the end of the 

 line, there is a fresh prolonged halt and a 

 fresh move backwards. Even so does the 

 husbandman plough the furrows in alternate 

 directions. 



Less frequently, no doubt when the leaf 

 is found to be so limp as to entail no risk, 

 the insect abandons the fold which it has 

 just made, without going over it again con- 

 versely, and quickly scrambles back to the 

 starting-point to make another. 



Here we are at last. Coming and going 

 from top to bottom and from bottom to 

 top, the insect, by dint of stubborn dexterity, 

 has rolled its leaf. It is now at the extreme 

 edge of the leaf, at the lateral corner 

 opposite to that whereat the work began. 

 This is the keystone on which the stability 

 of the rest depends. The Rhynchites re- 

 doubles her efforts and her patience. With 

 the tip of her rostrum, expanded spatula- 

 wise, she presses, point by point, the edge to 

 149 



