The Life of the Weevil 



larvae grow up in the actual place where they 

 are born. 



Now here, by a most unexpected change of 

 tactics, the Cionus-grub, while still quite 

 young, quits its natal cell, the capsule of the 

 mullein; it longs for the outer world, that it 

 may browse in the open air on the bark of a 

 twig; and this entails upon it two inventions 

 elsewhere unknown : the sticky coat, which 

 gives it a firm hold when it moves from place 

 to place, and the gold-beater's-skin ampulla, 

 which serves to house the nymph. 



What is the cause of this aberration? 

 Two theories are suggested, one based on 

 decadence, the other on progress. Of old, 

 we tell ourselves, the mother Cionus, far 

 back in the ages, used to obey the conventions 

 of her tribe. Like the other Weevils that 

 munch unripe seeds, she favoured large cap- 

 sules, enough to feed a sedentary family. 

 Later, by inadvertence or flightiness or for 

 some other reason, she turned her attention 

 to the stingy scollop-leaved mullein. Faith- 

 ful to ancient custom, she rightly chose for 

 her domain a plant of the same family as 

 that which she first exploited; but it unfor- 

 tunately happens that the mullein adopted is 

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