The Nut-Weevil 



difficulty in boring a moderate porthole? 

 Could she not, by making a ring of perfor- 

 ations, remove a round disk of the requisite 

 size? Strictly speaking, this would be pos- 

 sible, with a prodigious expenditure of 

 patience, a quality which insects can hardly 

 be said to lack. 



But here length of time is not enough: the 

 boring-tool is absolutely unmanageable inside 

 the nut-shell. It is so long that, to implant 

 it at the point to be drilled, the Weevil, when 

 she works outside, is obliged to stand erect. 

 For lack of space under the low ceiling of 

 the shell, this position and the alternate 

 tacking about become impossible. 



However patient she herself may be and 

 however well-armed we suppose the tip of 

 her drill to be, the Weevil, prevented from 

 employing her augur by the narrowness of 

 the premises, would perish in her coffer. 

 She would die a victim to her inordinate 

 machinery, which serves excellently well for 

 pushing the egg into place, but which would 

 be very unwieldy if the prisoner had to 

 effect her own delivery. 



Given a less exaggerated rostrum, just a 

 short and powerful punch, the Weevil, me- 

 135 



