THE ELEPHANT-BEETLE 251 



at a more distant point, through the surface of the acorn 

 itself. When an egg is to be laid the rule is to bore the 

 hole from a point as distant as is practicable from the base 

 — as far, in short, as the length of the rostrum will permit. 



What is the object of this long perforation, which often 

 occupies more than half the day ? Why this tenacious 

 perseverance when, not far from the stalk, at the cost of 

 much less time and fatigue, the rostrum could attain the 

 desired point — the living spring from which the new- 

 born grub is to drink ? The mother has her own reasons 

 for toiling in this manner ; in doing thus she still attains 

 the necessary point, the base of the acorn, and at the 

 same time — a most valuable result — she prepares for the 

 grub a long tube of fine, easily digested meal. 



But these are trivialities ! Not so, if you please, but 

 high and important matters, speaking to us of the infinite 

 pains which preside over the preservation of the least of 

 things ; witnesses of a superior logic which regulates the 

 smallest details. 



The Balaninus, so happily inspired as a mother, has 

 her place in the world and is worthy of notice. So, at 

 least, thinks the blackbird, which gladly makes a meal of 

 the insect with the long beak when fruits grow rare at the 

 end of autumn. It makes a small mouthful, but a tasty, 

 and is a pleasant change after such olives as yet withstand 

 the cold. 



And what without the blackbird and its rivalry of song 

 were the reawakening of the woods in spring ? Were 

 man to disappear, annihilated by his own foolish errors, 

 the festival of the life-bringing season would be no less 

 worthily observed, celebrated by the fluting of the yellow- 

 billed songster. 



