The Life of the Weevil 



insect appears to have finished. It does in 

 fact step back, it withdraws its drill, care- 

 fully, lest it should bend it. The tool is now 

 outside, once more pointing forwards, in a 

 straight hne. 



This is the moment. . . . Alas, no! 

 Once again I am cheated: my eight hours' 

 watch has led to nothing. The Weevil de- 

 camps, abandons the acorn without making 

 use of her boring. Yes, I was certainly 

 right to distrust observation in the woods. 

 Such a period of waiting among the ilexes, 

 under the scorching sun, would have been 

 an unbearable torture. 



All through October, with the aid of help- 

 ers when needful, I remark numerous borings 

 not followed by any laying. The operation 

 varies greatly in length. Generally it lasts 

 a couple of hours; sometimes it takes half 

 the day or even more. 



What is the object of these shafts, made 

 at such cost of time and labour and very 

 often left unstocked? Let us first look for 

 the site occupied by the egg and forming the 

 grub's earliest mouthfuls; then perhaps the 

 reply will come. 



The inhabited acorns remain on the oak, 

 98 



