Other Leaf-Rollers 



Now here is something far better, ye 

 snobbish upholders of abstinence ! A trivial 

 beastie, not celebrated by the newspapers, 

 a grub born the day before yesterday, takes 

 a few mouthfuls; then, finding its victuals 

 too dry, it eats no more for four months or 

 longer. And this is not the result of sickly 

 languor: the creature fasts in spite of the 

 extreme appetite of youth, when, more than 

 ever, the stomach demands a copious diet. 

 The Rotifer,^ which for a whole season lies 

 lifeless and desiccated in the mosses of 

 its home, begins to whirl round again when 

 placed in a drop of water. The grub of 

 the Attelabus, lying near to death for four or 

 five months, recovers its liveliness and eats 

 like a glutton if I moisten its bread for it. 

 What can life be, capable of such inter- 

 missions? 



1 Or Wheel Animalcule. — Translator's Note. 

 195 



