THE PEA-WEEVIL 281 



In order to escape from the pea the slayer of the 

 weevil makes an opening in the centre of the circular 

 trap-door which the grub of the weevil prepared in 

 view of its future deliverance. The slain has prepared 

 the way for the slayer. After this detail the rest may 

 be divined. 



When the preliminaries to the metamorphosis are 

 completed, when the passage of escape is bored and 

 furnished with its lid of superficial membrane, the 

 female Chalcidian arrives in a busy mood. She 

 inspects the peas, still on the vine, and enclosed in 

 their pods ; she auscultates them with her antennas ; 

 she discovers, hidden under the general envelope, the 

 weak points in the epidermic covering of the peas. 

 Then, applying her oviscapt, she thrusts it through the 

 side of the pod and perforates the circular trap-door. 

 However far v/ithdrawn into the centre of the pea, the 

 Bruchus, whether larvae or nymph, is reached by the 

 long oviduct. It receives an egg in its, tender flesh, 

 and the thing is done. Without possibility of defence, 

 since it is by now a somnolent grub or a helpless 

 pupa, the embryo weevil is eaten until nothing but 

 skin remains. What a pity that we cannot at will 

 assist the multiplication of this eager exterminator I 

 Alas ! our assistants have got us in a vicious circle, 

 for if we wished to obtain the help of any great 

 number of Chalcidians we should be obliged in the 

 iirst place to breed a multiplicity of Bfuchidae. 



