The Life of the Weevil 



Finally, in September, the capsules of the iris 

 turn brown and the three valves become 

 unfastened; the house threatens to fall to 

 pieces. Before it becomes untenable, the 

 last occupants hasten to clear out, each by its 

 round window. They will spend the winter 

 in the neighbourhood, under some kind of 

 shelter; then, when spring returns and the 

 iris is yellow with flowers, the colonizing of 

 the capsules will begin all over again. 



The flora of my district, not far from the 

 spots frequented by our insect, in addition 

 to the yellow iris comprises three other 

 species. On the neighbouring hills, among 

 the rock-roses and the rosemaries, the dwarf 

 iris abounds (/. chammris, Bertol.), with 

 flowers of varying colour : they are sometimes 

 purple, sometimes yellow or white and some- 

 times attired in a mixture of the three hues. 

 The plant is barely a hand's-breadth in 

 height, but its flowers are quite as large as 

 those of the other species. 



On the same hills, at points where the 

 rains have left a little moisture, the spurious 

 iris (/. spuria) forms a glorious carpet. 

 It is tall, slender-leaved and decked with 

 flowers of rare beauty. Lastly, near the 

 300 



