THE PEA- WEEVIL 271 



discomfort. Hence the necessity of an inevitable 

 decimation, which will suppress all the competitors save 

 one. 



Now the superior volume of the broad bean, which is 

 almost as much beloved by the weevil as the pea, can 

 lodge a considerable community, and the solitary can 

 live as a cenobite. Without encroaching on the domain 

 of their neighbours, five or six or more can find room 

 in the one bean. 



Moreover, each grub can find its infant diet ; that is, 

 that layer which, remote from the surface, hardens only 

 gradually and remains full of sap until a comparatively 

 late period. This inner layer represents the crumb of 

 a loaf, the rest of the bean being the crust. 



In the pea, a sphere of much less capacity, it occupies 

 the central portion ; a limited point at which the grub 

 develops, and lacking which it perishes ; but in the 

 bean it lines the wide adjoining faces of the two flattened 

 cotyledons. No matter where the point of attack is 

 made, the grub has only to bore straight down when it 

 quickly reaches the softer tissues. What is the result ? 

 I have counted the eggs adhering to a bean-pod and the 

 beans included in the pod, and comparing the two 

 figures I find that there is plenty of room for the whole 

 family at the rate of five or six dwellers in each bean. 

 No superfluous larvae perish of hunger when barely 

 issued from the egg ; all have their share of the ample 

 provision ; all live and prosper. The abundance of food 

 balances the prodigal fertility of the mother. 



If the Bruchus were always to adopt the broad bean for 

 the establishment of her family I could well understand the 

 exuberant allowance of eggs to one pod ; a rich food- 



