356 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNGf. 



quired temperature : and having performed this last 

 duty to her progeny she expires. 



The ovipositor of the Capricorn beetles {Ceramhyx^ 

 L(.)j an infinite host, is a flattened retractile tube, of a 

 hard substance, by means of which it can introduce its 

 eggs under the bark of timber, and so place them where 

 its progeny will find their appropriate food*. The au- 

 ger used by certain species of GEstrus, to enable them 

 to penetrate the hides of oxen or deer and form a nidus 

 for their eggs, has been before described''. — But to enu- 

 merate all the varieties of these instruments would be 

 endless. 



The purpose which in the insects above mentioned 

 is answered by their anal apparatus, is fulfilled in the 

 numerous tribes of weevils {Curculio^ L.) by the long 

 slender snout with which their head is provided. It is 

 with this that Cure, nucum pierces the shell of the nut, 

 aaidthe weev\\{Calandra gr anuria) i\\c skin of the grains? 

 of wheat, in which they respectively deposit their eggs, 

 prudently introducing one only into each nut or grain, 

 w hich is sufficient, but not more than sufficient, for the 

 nourishment of the grub that will inhabit it. 



II. Hitherto I have adverted to those insects only 

 which perish before their young come into existence, and 

 can therefore evince their affection for them in no other 

 way than by placing the eggs whence they are to spring 

 in secure situations stored with food ; and these include 

 by far the largest portion of the race. A very consi- 

 derable number, however, extend their cares much 

 further : they not only watch over their eggs after de° 



* See Kirby in Linn. Trans, v. 234. t. 12,/. l'>. '' See above, 151, 



