Other Leaf-Rollers 



here, but far away on the rounded heights 

 of the lower, outermost Alps. The high- 

 lander's exile none the less seems pleasant. 

 The big Snail does quite well in the marshy 

 scrub on the banks of the torrent. 



Neither is the Apoderus a native. She is 

 a castaway, hailing from the hazel-clad 

 heights. She has made the voyage in a 

 little boat, that is to say, in the leafy cockle- 

 shell in which the grub is born. The vessel 

 was tightly closed, which made the passage 

 possible. Running ashore at some point on 

 the bank in the height of summer, the insect 

 perforated its cell and, not finding its 

 favourite tree, established itself upon the 

 alder. There it founded a family, remain- 

 ing faithful to the same tree for the three 

 years during which I had to do with it. It is 

 probable, for that matter, that the origin of 

 the settlement dates farther back. 



The history of this stranger interests me. 

 The primordial conditions of her life 

 climate and food are changed. Her 

 ancestors lived under a temperate sky; they 

 grazed on the leaf of the hazel-bush; they 

 manufactured cylinders out of piece-goods 

 181 



