48 INSECTS AND MAN 



a few seconds are required to complete the deposition after 

 the egg enters the opening to the cavity. Having placed 

 the egg, the ovipositor is withdrawn, and just as the tip of 

 it leaves the cavity a quantity of mucilaginous material, 

 usually mixed with some solid excrement, is forced into the 

 opening and smeared around by means of the tip of the 

 abdomen. This seals the egg-puncture, and the act of 

 oviposition becomes complete. Sometimes the weevil fails 

 to locate the puncture immediately with her ovipositor. 

 In this event she searches excitedly, moving the tip of the 

 abdomen about, feeling carefully over the surface of the 

 square. In this search, however, she never moves her front 

 feet, apparently using the position of these as a guide to 

 the distance through which she should search. Failing 

 to locate the puncture in this way, she again turns around 

 and searches for it with her beak and antennae. When the 

 cavity has been found again the female invariably enlarges 

 it before turning again to insert the ovipositor. If the 

 search with the antennae does not prove successful, the 

 female generally makes another puncture in the same 

 manner as at first. The usual habit of the female in 

 puncturing through the calyx enables it to seal the wound 

 more thoroughly because of the healing power possessed 

 by the calyx tissue. Punctures made in the corolla must 

 remain open, or are closed only by the slight filling of 

 mucilaginous excrement by the weevil. Punctures through 

 the calyx will, in most cases, be healed by the natural out- 

 growth of the tissue so as to completely fill the wounds in 

 a manner analogous to the healing of wounds in the bark 

 of a tree. The custom of the weevil in sealing up its egg- 

 punctures with a mixture of mucous substance and excre- 

 ment is of great advantage and assistance to the plant in 

 the healing process. While undoubtedly applied primarily 

 as a protection to the egg, it seems to keep the punctured 

 tissue from drying and decay, and this promotes the process 

 of repair. As a result of the growth thus stimulated in 



