The Life of the Weevil 



the sandy tracts covered with lean tufts of 

 grass, because she remembers her youthful 

 revels underground amid the decaying root- 

 lets. 



Such a memory would be almost admissible 

 if the adult's diet were the same as the 

 larva's. We can more or less understand 

 the Dung-bettle, who, herself feeding upon 

 animal droppings, makes them into canned 

 provisions for her family. The diet of 

 maturity and that of infancy are linked as 

 though each were a reminiscence of the other. 

 Uniformity offers a very simple solution of 

 the food-problem. 



But what shall we say of the Cetonia pass- 

 ing from the flowers to the sordid refuse of 

 the decayed leaves? Above all, what shall 

 we say of the Hunting Wasps? These fill 

 their own crops with honey and feed their 

 youngsters on prey! 



By what inconceivable inspiration does the 

 Cerceris ^ leave the refreshment-bar of the 

 blossoms, dripping with nectar, to go a-hunt- 

 ing and to slay the Weevil, the game destined 

 for her offspring? How are we to explain 



1 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chaps i. to iii. — Translator's 

 Note. 



78 



