The Pea- Weevil: The Eggs 



single ration the impetuous ovaries always 

 offer a multiplicity of consumers. 



My notes are unanimous on this point. 

 The number of eggs laid on a pod always 

 exceeds and often in a scandalous fashion 

 the number of peas available. However 

 scanty the food-wallet may be, the guests 

 are superabundant. Dividing the number 

 of eggs perceived on a given pod by that 

 of the peas inside it, I find from five to eight 

 claimants for each pea; I find as many as 

 ten; and there is nothing to tell me that the 

 prodigality does not go farther still. Many 

 are called, but few are chosen! Why all 

 these supernumeraries, who are necessarily 

 excluded from the banquet for want of 

 space? 



The eggs are a fairly bright amber-yellow, 

 cylindrical in form, smooth and rounded at 

 both ends. They are a millimetre long at 

 most.^ Each of them is fixed to the pod by 

 a thin network of threads of coagulated 

 albumen. Neither the rain nor the wind can 

 loosen their hold. 



The mother often emits them two at a 



1 %5 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 239 



