The Elephant Weevil 



awl In length. As far as the perforating 

 beak reaches, so far can the egg-probe reach, 

 that inner beak. When working upon her 

 acorn, the Weevil chooses the point of attack 

 so that the two complementary instruments 

 can both reach the desired point, the base of 

 the fruit. 



The rest now stands self-explained. 

 When the work of drilling is finished and 

 the gallery ready, the mother turns round 

 and places the tip of her abdomen over the 

 entrance. She unsheathes and protrudes her 

 internal mechanism, which readily sinks 

 through the loose shavings. No sign 

 appears of the directing probe, so quickly and 

 discreetly does it work; no sign appears 

 either when, after the egg has been placed 

 in position, the instrument goes up again and 

 gradually slips back into the abdomen. It 

 is over; the mother departs and we have 

 seen none of her little secrets. 



Was I not right to persist? An appar- 

 ently insignificant fact has told me definitely 

 what the Larini had already led me to 

 suspect. The long-beaked Weevils have an 

 inner probe, an abdominal rostrum, which 

 "5 



