The Pea-Weevil: The Eggs 



the same time easier to enter and less easy to 

 wound. Moreover, as the whole pea is too 

 much for a single grub, the loss of substance 

 is reduced to the piece preferred by the 

 consumer; and this piece is not the essential 

 part of the pea. 



Given other conditions, with seeds either 

 very small or exceedingly large, we should 

 see the results changing entirely. In the 

 first case, the germ would be gnawed like 

 the remainder and would perish by the tooth 

 of the too niggardly served grub; in the 

 second case, the abundant food would allow 

 of several guests. The common vetch and 

 the broad bean, exploited in the absence of 

 the pea, tell us something in this connection: 

 the smaller seed, devoured all but the skin, 

 is a ruin whose germination we may expect 

 in vain; the larger, on the contrary, despite 

 the Weevil's numerous cells, is still capable 

 of sprouting. 



Admitting that the number of eggs on 

 the pod is always much greater than that of 

 the peas contained and that, on the other 

 hand, each pea is the exclusive property of 

 one grub, we wonder what becomes of the 

 surplus. Do these larvae perish outside, 

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