262 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



morning is mild ; the sun is warm without being 

 oppressive. It is the moment of nuptial flights ; the 

 time of rejoicing in the splendour of the sunshine. 

 Everywhere are creatures rejoicing to be alive. Couples 

 come together, part, and re-form. When towards noon 

 the heat becomes too great, the weevils retire into the 

 shadow, taking refuge singly in the folds of the flowers 

 whose secret corners they know so well. To-morrow 

 will be another day of festival, and the next day also, 

 until the pods, emerging from the shelter of the " keel " 

 of the flower, are plainly visible, enlarging from day to 

 day. 



A few gravid females, more pressed for time than the 

 others, confide their eggs to the growing pod, flat and 

 meagre as it issues from its floral sheath. These hastily 

 laid batches of eggs, expelled perhaps by the exigencies 

 of an ovary incapable of further delay, seem to me in 

 serious danger ; for the seed in which the grub must 

 establish itself is as yet no more than a tender speck of 

 green, without firmness and without any farinaceous 

 tissue. No larva could possible find sufficient nourish- 

 ment there, unless it waited for the pea to mature. 



But is the grub capable of fasting for any length of 

 time when once hatched ? It is doubtful. The little I 

 have seen tells me that the new-born grub must establish 

 itself in the midst of its food as quickly as possible, and 

 that it perishes unless it can do so. I am therefore of 

 opinion that such eggs as are deposited in immature 

 pods are lost. However, the race will hardly suffer by 

 such a loss, so fertile is the little beetle. We shall see 

 directly how prodigal the female is of her eggs, the 

 majority of which are destined to perish. 



