The Life of the Weevil 



a tiny cylinder. They arc scattered anyhow 

 and anywhere. The mother lays them either 

 singly or in little groups, on the sides of the 

 jar as well as on the haricots. Her heed- 

 lessness is such that she will even fasten 

 them to maize, castor-oil-seeds, coffee-beans 

 or other seeds, on which the family are 

 doomed soon to perish, finding no food to 

 their liking. What is the use of maternal 

 foresight here? Left no matter where, 

 under the heap of beans, the eggs are always 

 well-placed, for it is the new-born grubs' 

 business to seek and find the spots at which 

 to effect an entrance. 



The egg hatches in five days at most. 

 Out of it comes a tiny white creature, with a 

 red head. It is a mere speck, just visible 

 to the naked eye. The grub is swollen in 

 front, to give more strength to its tool, the 

 chisel of its mandibles, which has to break 

 through the tough seed, hard as wood. The 

 larvae of the Buprestes and the Capricorns, 

 which tunnel through the trunks of trees, are 

 similarly shaped. As soon as it is born, the 

 crawling worm makes off at random, with an 

 activity which we should hardly expect in one 



