The Sloe-Weevil 



tion in size; that a warm or cold climate may 

 have thinned or thickened the fur : all these 

 changes and many others besides I willingly 

 concede, if that will give any one any pleas- 

 ure; but, for pity's sake, let us take higher 

 ground than this, do not let us reduce the 

 world of the living to a collection of digestive 

 tubes, an assortment of bellies that fill and 

 empty themselves. 



Let us reflect upon the masterly touch that 

 sets the whole animal machine in motion; 

 let us question the instincts, the controllers 

 of form; let us remember that glorious ex- 

 pression of the ancients, mens agitat molem; 

 and we shall understand the inextricable 

 difficulty that besets the theorists when they 

 wish to explain how it is that of four insects, 

 as much alike in shape as so many drops of 

 water, two roll leaves, another carves fruit- 

 stones and the fourth profits by the pulp of 

 a rotten fruit. 



If they are affiliated to one another, if 

 they are indeed related, as their so strongly- 

 marked family-resemblance would seem to 

 affirm, which of them was the first of the 

 line? Could it be the leaf-roller? 



No one, unless he be content with idle 



201 



