The Life of the Weevil 



end. Famine threatens; all save one must 

 die. 



Soon indeed the aspect of things changes. 

 One of the grubs, the one occupying the 

 central position in the pea, grows faster than 

 the others. He has hardly begun to be 

 larger than his competitors when these cease 

 to eat and refrain from digging any farther. 

 They lie motionless and resigned; they die 

 the gentle death which reaps unconscious 

 lives. They disappear, wasted away to 

 nothing. They were so tiny, the poor 

 victims ! Henceforth the whole pea belongs 

 to the sole survivor. But what has 

 happened, to produce this desolation around 

 the privileged one? For lack of a relevant 

 answer, I will propound a suggestion. 



In the centre of the pea, more gently 

 stewed than the rest by the sun's chemistry, 

 may there not be an infant-pap, a pulp of a 

 quality better-suited to the delicate organs 

 of a grub? Here perhaps, stimulated by 

 tender, highly flavoured and sweeter food, 

 the stomach becomes more vigorous and fit 

 to cope with food less easily digested. A 

 baby is fed on milk before it receives the 

 basin of broth and the bread of the able- 

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