The Elephant Weevil 



in one acorn would mean an ascent in 

 another. 



A second, no less risky explanation sug- 

 gests itself. You say to yourself: 



"The Cuckoo lays her egg in the grass, 

 anywhere; she picks it up in her beak and 

 goes and places it as it is in the Warbler's 

 narrow nest." 



Can the Weevil adopt a similar method? 

 Can she use her rostrum to push her egg to 

 the base of the acorn? I cannot see that 

 the insect has any other implement capable 

 of reaching this remote hiding-place. 



And yet we must hastily reject this quaint 

 explanation as a despairing resource. Never 

 does the Weevil lay her egg in the open and 

 then take it in her beak. If she did, the 

 delicate germ would infallibly perish, 

 destroyed in the attempt to push it down a 

 narrow, half-choked passage. 



My perplexity is great; and it will be 

 shared by any of my readers who are 

 acquainted with the Weevil's structure. The 

 Grasshopper owns a sabre, a laying-tool 

 which sinks into the ground and sows the 

 eggs at the requisite depth; ^ the Leucospis is 



113 



