The art of rolling a leaf

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“We must pluck the leaf, let it fall to the earth, and manipulate it on the ground when it is rightly withered.”
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The attainments of the Curculionid mother are, generally speaking, limited to inserting her eggs at places where the grubs will find suitable nourishment and occasionally varying the diet with a botanical judgment of marvellous certainty. She displays little or no industry. The niceties of the feeding-bottle or the baby-linen do not concern her. To this rough conception of the duties of maternity, I know but one exception, the attribute of certain Weevils, who, in order to endow their young with an alimentary preserve, possess the art of rolling a leaf, which serves as board and lodging in one. Among these manufacturers of vegetable sausages, the most skilful is the Poplar Weevil (Rhynchites Populi, Lin.), who is modest in proportions, but resplendent in attire. Her back is clad in gleaming gold and copper; her back is indigo blue. Would you see her at work, you need but visit the lower twigs of the common black poplar, at the edge of the meadows, about the end of May.