The Life of the Weevil 



when the more precocious have taken their 

 places one by one in the leguminous larder? 

 Do they succumb to the intolerant teeth of 

 the early occupants? They do neither. Let 

 us set forth the facts. 



On all old peas, now dry, from which the 

 adult Weevil has issued, leaving a gaping 

 hole, the magnifying-glass reveals a varying 

 number of fine, reddish-brown dots, perfor- 

 ated at the centre. What are these spots, 

 of which I count five or six or even more on 

 a single pea? There is no mistake possible: 

 they are the entrance-points of so many 

 grubs. Several workers have therefore 

 penetrated into the seed; and of the whole 

 gang only one has survived, waxed big and 

 fat and attained the adult age. And the 

 others? We shall see. 



At the end of May and in June, during 

 the laying-season, inspect the still green and 

 tender peas. Nearly all the seeds invaded 

 show us the multiple dots which we already 

 observed on the dry peas abandoned by the 

 Weevils. Does this actually mean an 

 assembly of guests? Yes. Skin the afore- 

 said seeds, separate the seed-lobes, subdivide 

 them if necessary. We discover several 

 244 



