The Elephant Weevil 



fruit is not already occupied. It is a rich 

 larder, certainly; nevertheless, there is not 

 enough for two. Never indeed have I found 

 two larvae in the same acorn. One only, 

 always one only, digests the generous morsel 

 and converts it into pale-green flour before 

 leaving it and descending to the ground. 

 Of the seed-lobe bread, at most an insig- 

 nificant crumb remains. The rule is that 

 each grub has its loaf, each consumer its 

 ration consisting of one acorn. 



Before trusting the egg to the acorn, there- 

 fore, it is important to examine it, to 

 ascertain if it already has an occupant. 

 Now this occupant, if any, is at the bottom 

 of a crypt, at the base of the acorn, under 

 the cover of a cup bristling with scales. 

 Nothing could be more secret than this 

 hiding-place. No eye would suspect the 

 presence of a recluse if the surface of the 

 acorn did not bear the mark of a tiny 

 puncture. 



This just visible mark is my guide. Its 

 appearance tells me that the fruit is inhabited 

 or that it has at least been prepared for the 

 reception of the egg; its absence assures me 



lOI 



