GRUBS OF BEETLES. 



397 



pulp, till the one becomes too liard and tlie other too dry to 

 be nutritive. It is remarkable that, during this period, he 

 takes care not to injure the kernel, but permits it to ri2:)en 

 before he attacks it. Had he done this prematurely, he 

 would have ultimately been starved, as he has not the 

 power of perforating another nut when the first is consumed. 

 It is said also that he is very careful to preserve the original 

 hole made by the mother, by gnawing around its inner 

 edges, in order to facilitate his exit,* which he effects when 

 the nut falls to the ground in September or October. The 

 hole found in the nut appears much too small to have 

 admitted of its passage ; but from beiflg very soft it no doubt 

 stretches itself out for the purpose, using its short claws as 

 instruments of motion. 



^ 



m^ ' 



Nut and apple-tree beetles. A, a branch of the filbert- tree, a, egg-hole in the nut; b, 

 exit-hole of the grub. B, the larva of the nut-beetle. C, the same in the pupa state. 

 D, female beetle. E, male beetle, c, the beetle that destroys the bloom-bud of the 

 apple-tree ; a, the same in the larva state ; b, the chrysalis of the same. 



Eosel, in order to observe the transformation of these nut 

 grubs, put a number of them, at the commencement of 

 winter, into glasses half filled with earth, covered with 

 green turf. All of them dug directly down into the earth, 

 remained there all the winter, and did not change into 

 pupae till the following June ; the perfect weevils appeared 

 from the 1st till about the 20th of August, but still kept 

 under ground for the first week after their change. 



"During the autumn," says Salisbury, "we frequently 

 observe a small red weevil busily employed in traversing 

 * Bingk-y, Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 251. 



