The Life of the Weevil 
attempt: she works under my bell-jars as 
zealously as on her oak. What I now learn 
deprives me of all hope of following the 
details of the leaf-rolling process: the Atte- 
labus is one of those who work at night. 
Late in the evening, about nine or ten 
o’clock, she gives the cuts of the scissors 
that slash the leaf; next morning, the keg is 
finished. Seen by the uncertain light of a 
lamp and at untimely hours, hours rightly 
claimed by sleep, the worker’s delicate tech- 
nique would escape me. We will give up 
the idea. 
There is a reason for these nocturnal 
habits. I think I see what it is. The leaf 
of the oak, especially of the holm-oak, is 
much harder to bend than the leaf of the 
alder, the poplar or the vine. If rolled in 
the daytime, under the burning rays of the 
sun, it would add to the difficulties arising 
from indifferent flexibility those due to 
incipient dryness. On the other hand, when 
visited by the dew, in the coolness of the 
night, it will remain pliable; it will yield 
adequately to the efforts of the roller; and 
the barrel will be ready when the sun comes, 
188 
