188 



Insect Architecture. 



observed the circumstance, though we have witnessed the 

 process in some hundreds of instances ; and we doubt the 

 statement, from the careful survey which the insect makes 

 of the capabilities of the leaf before the operation is begun. 

 If she found upon examination that a leaf would not bend, 

 she would reject it, as we have often seen happen, and pass to 

 another. (J. E.) 



A species of leaf-roller, of the most diminutive size, 

 merits particular mention, although it is not remarkable 

 in colour or figure. It is without hair, of a greenish- white, 

 and has all the vivacity of the other leaf-rollers. Sorrel is 

 the plant on which it feeds ; and the manner in which it 

 rolls a portion of the leaf is very ingenious. 



The structure which it contrives is a sort of conical 

 pyramid, composed of five or six folds lapped round each 

 other. From the position 01 this little cone the caterpillar 



Leaf-rolling Caterpillars of the SorreL 



has other labours to perform, beside that of rolling the leaf. 

 It first cuts across the leaf, its teeth acting as a pair of 

 scissors ; but it does not entirely detach this segment. It 

 rolls it up very gradually, by attaching threads of silk to 

 the plane surface of the leaf, as we have before seen ; and 

 then, having cut in a different direction, sets the cone upright, 



