The Poplar-Weevil 
which is more exposed than the rest, and 
then, without letting go, makes her way back- 
wards to the other end, always with patient 
deliberation. In this manner, an added 
firmness is imparted to the new fold; and 
the next fold is prepared. At the end of the 
line, there is a fresh prolonged halt and a 
fresh move backwards. Even so does the 
husbandman plough the furrows in alternate 
directions. 
Less frequently, no doubt when 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 con- 
versely, and quickly scrambles back to the 
starting-point to make another. 
Here 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 at the extreme 
edge of the leaf, at the lateral corner 
opposite to that whereat the work began. 
This is the keystone on which the stability 
of the rest depends. The Rhynchites re- 
doubles her efforts and her patience. With 
the tip of her rostrum, expanded spatula- 
wise, she presses, point by point, the edge to 
149 
