The Vine-Weevil 



the early days of his final form, begins by 

 hardening and colouring his implements of 

 labour: the toothed arm-pieces and the 

 clypeus with its semicircular notching. The 

 Weevil likewise in the first place hardens 

 and colours her drill. These industrious 

 workers interest me with their preparations. 

 Barely has the rest of the body set and 

 crystallized before the tools of its future 

 work acquire exceptional strength, which they 

 owe to an early and long protracted temper- 

 ing. 



From the broken shells I also take nymphs 

 and larvcE. The latter apparently will not 

 pass beyond the first stage this year. What 

 is the use of hurrying? The larva, no less 

 than the adult and perhaps more so, is given 

 to slumbering through the severities of the 

 winter. When the poplar unfurls its sticky 

 buds and the Cricket on the greensward 

 strikes up the first bars of his melody, they 

 will be ready, one and all: the forward and 

 backward aHke; faithful to the call of spring, 

 all will come forth from the ground, eager 

 to climb the kindly tree and to renew the 

 leaf-rollers' festival in the sunlight. 



In its pebbly, parching soil, on which the 

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