190 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



is no gumming-process to catch hold and keep the fresh 

 surfaces glued together. The stability depends purely 

 upon the flexion acquired. And so it is not unusual for 

 the elasticity of the piece to overcome the efforts of the 

 worker and partly to unroll the more or less forward 

 work. Stubbornly, with the same impassive slowness, 

 the insect begins all over again, replaces the insubordinate 

 piece. No, the Weevil is not one to allow herself to be 

 upset by failure : she knows too well what patience and 

 time will do. 



The Rhynchites usually works backwards. When her 

 line is finished, she is careful not to abandon the fold 

 which she has just made and return to the starting- 

 point to begin another. The part last folded is not yet 

 fastened sufficiently ; if left to itself too soon, it might 

 easily rebel and flatten out again. The insect, there- 

 fore, persists at this extreme point, which is more ex- 

 posed than the rest ; and then, without letting go, 

 makes her way backwards to the other end, still with 

 patient slowness. In this way, an added firmness is 

 imparted to the fold ; and the next fold is prepared. 

 At the end of the line there is a fresh prolonged halt, 

 followed by a fresh backward motion. Even so does the 

 husbandman's plough-share alternate its work on the 

 furrows. 



Less frequently, when, no doubt, 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 

 in the opposite direction, and quickly scrambles to the 

 starting-point to contrive a new one. 



There 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 on the 



