( 22 ) 



* 



reafon, wliy in corn, wliich is frequently moved and Ihifted, the 

 Weevil can increafe but little : for fuppofing one of thel'e infects to 

 have pierced and prepared two or three grains ready to depofit its 

 eo-gs, and foon afterwards the com is moved or fpread about, tlie 

 animal, when it is ready to lay an egg, finding no grain prepared to 

 receive it, mud leave fuch egg on the outfide of the corn, where the 

 young maggot, when hatched, will be in the fame fituation as feed 

 fown in barren land, and confequently muftperilh. But if fuch corn 

 is undifturbed, tiie Weevil may multiply, in a great degree, by de- 

 pofitlng its eggs in the grains fitly prepared for them, and which may 

 be confidered as fo many nefis for the reception of the young. Again, 

 the long life of this infe6l caufes it to multiply exceedingly, for tlie 

 Weevils which I received iit the month of March, (the youngcfl of 

 which was undoubtedly a year old,) were alive and vigorous in Jurre 

 following; and who can tell how long the natural life of this infefl 

 may be ? 



For the information of thofe who never faw a Weevil, one of thefe 

 infects is reprefented of its natural fize ^t fig. 4, X, and underneath 

 it, I have given a drawing of its beak or trunk, as feen by the micro- 

 fcope, to fliew by what organs or inftruments this creature is enabled 

 to pierce the corn, partly to feed on the contents, and partly to de- 

 pofit its eggs in the fmall holes it makes therein : for, as otl^er ani- 

 mals are taught by nature to prepare their nefts for the reception and 

 fupportof their young, fo it is the peculiar inftin^l: of the Weevil to 

 aim at depofiting its eggs in no other place than where the little ani- 

 mals produced from thofe eggs fiiall be able to find fubfiftence, and 

 this is in the grains of corn. 



At MNOP is represented the probofcis, trunk, or beak of the 

 Weevil, which naturally is not fo ftraight as liere pi61ured, but ap- 

 pears bent downwards when feen fideways, as marked at M O O ; 

 but had the figure been drawn in that view, the opening at the ex- 



