The Life of the Weevil 



by capillary action. The grub clothes itself 

 in glue without exercising any special skill, 

 merely by moving along. Each locomotory 

 wave, each step, supplies its quota to the 

 viscous doublet. This makes up for the 

 losses which the larva cannot fail to suffer 

 on the road as it roams from pasture to pas- 

 ture; and, since the fresh material balances 

 the wastage of the old, a suitable coat is 

 obtained, neither too thin nor too thick. 



The complete coating is rapidly effected. 

 With the tip of a camel-hair pencil, I wash a 

 grub in a little water. The viscosity dis- 

 solves and disappears; and the water used 

 for washing the larva, evaporated on a slip 

 of glass, leaves a mark like that of a weak 

 solution of gum arabic. I place the grub to 

 dry on blotting-paper. When I now touch 

 it with a straw, it no longer sticks to it; it 

 has lost its coating of varnish. 



How will it replace it? This is a very 

 simple matter. I allow the grub to move 

 about at will for a few minutes. No more 

 is needed; the layer of gum is restored; the 

 creature sticks to the straw that touches it. 

 To sum up, the varnish with which the 

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