The Life of the Weevil 
Like her rival cigarsmaker, she works 
backwards, keeping her eyes upon the part 
which, folded that moment and still unset, 
may require immediate touching up. The 
product is thus watched until it gives proof 
of its stability. 
Like the other, she too seals the denticu- 
lations of the final layer by pressing them 
with her rostrum. Here there is no sticky 
secretion oozing from the edges of the leaf, 
but there is a downy fluff whose fibres get 
entangled and cause adhesion. On the 
whole, therefore, the method employed by 
the two Rhynchites is the same. 
Nor do their domestic habits differ. 
While the mother is patiently rolling her 
cylinder, the father remains close at hand, 
on the same leaf. He looks on. Next, he 
comes running along in a hurry, takes his 
stand in the crease and kindly lends the 
assistance of his grappling-irons. But he 
again is not a very diligent helper. His 
brief collaboration is a pretext to tease the 
worker and achieve his ends by sheer persist- 
ence. 
He retires satisfied. Let us watch him. 
Before the roll is finished, we shall see him 
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