THOSE HAZEL PACKETS 



105 



pact coil by a true touch of jugglery, for there is no 

 resort to pin or string, nor even a web to be seen. 



There is a real knack about it all, as we may very 

 easily learn by trying to do up 

 one of the packages ourselves. 



I had long suspected a tiny 

 brown beetle, which I had occa- 

 sionally observed suspiciously near 

 the bundles, as their author, and 

 last summer I was fortunate 

 enough to see my suspicions ver- 

 ified. Chancing upon a hazel 

 bush which was hanging full with 

 the little packets, many of which 

 were still fresh and green, a 

 careful search disclosed one 

 of the tiny insects at its 

 work, and here is the proc- 

 ess, the secret magic tie, 

 and the deep-laid plan 

 which it all involves : The 

 beetle first bites through 

 the leaf to the mid -vein 

 close to the stem, and par- 

 tially through the midrib 

 also, leaving barely suffi- 

 cient of the same to retain 

 the weight of the leaf, which 

 soon wilts in the hot sun, 

 and in its limp condition is 

 ready to be rolled. It is 

 then folded face to face 

 along the mid-vein, the bee- 





